Distortion
by Hakuma Twins
Summary: Allen Walker was left with nothing the day that Mana Walker died, and lost his his foster father the second time the day that he tried to ressurect him, but he never expected he'd gain a family again, until he was taken in by Noah's Family.
1. If it had been

**Authors Note(Kougetsu):** Yay for a sixth story on this site! This one is one I will be working on with my twin, Jun, as usual, although I'm going to write the first few chapters and we'll go from there. Basically an alternate version of if Allen joined the Noah's(way overdone, I know… -sweatdrop- ) but there'll be quite a few twists and OC's in here as well. Special thanks goes to Allen the Musician for helping me with the first parts of this story 83 and so…on to chapter 1!

Summary: Allen Walker was left with nothing the day that Mana Walker died, and lost his foster father a second time the day he tried to resurrect him, but he never expected he'd gain a family again, until he was taken in by Noah's Family. Now he's going to have to repent for his sins, by helping the Earl and the Noah's destroy the Black Order for good…

**Disclaimer:** Although I wish that it was I that it belongs to, the honor goes to the great Katsura Hoshino.

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**Distortion**

**A D Gray Man Fanfiction**

**By: Hakuma_Twins**

**Chapter by: Kougetsu_KitsuneHinote_Hakuma**

**Chapter 1: If it had been…**

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Short, brown hair fell over the pale skinned orphans face, faint sobs escaping the small boy's frame. He shivered slightly as he sat up, tears still sparkling at the corners of his young gray-toned eyes.

"Mana…" He whimpered, looking around for any sign of his 'Father'. "Mana…Mana…? Mana!?" He called out desperately, but only silence followed. Tears started to well up again in his now dull gray eyes as he whimpered and pulled into a ball, body aching as his metal-looking clawed left arm returned to its normal form, a rough rustic red arm with a glowing green cross imbedded in the top of his hand. He hardly noticed the large shadow as it passed over him, too distraught to even think of looking up at the moment.

"Poor child." A rough voice purred, the figure's eyes watching the boy from behind his round glasses thoughtfully. Never before had anything like this happened. After a moment, he came to a brief decision. "You could stay with me, if you wish." He purred, making the small brown haired boy look up weakly, the long cut down across his left eye still bleeding.

The marshmallow-bodied Victorian man held out a hand, a pink umbrella resting in his other hand as he held it over him and the boy. He could see a mix of hesitation, confusion, and turmoil written across the boy's face, not seeming to know what he wanted to do before he looked down slightly again, a blank look to his eyes as if he'd given up on life. The man inclined his head to the side slightly.

"I'm sure it's what Mana Walker would want." He added. He was rewarded as the boy's eyes shot back to him immediately, the ghost of something like surprise and realization flickering across them. It took a moment for the boy to react, reaching up and taking the man's outstretched hand weakly.

The man's ever present grin widened slightly as he lifted the boy to his feet, gently ushering him toward a black and red checkered door in the shape of a heart that stood a few feet away in the graveyard soil. The boy was surprised as the door opened into an almost unreal vortex, a girl stepping out.

She seemed to be only a few years older than him, with somewhat messy spiked black hair, wearing a frilled white shirt, black skirt, and black dress shoes over black and white banded tube socks that reached mid-thigh. She smiled slightly as her gaze fell on the small boy and she stepped to the side.

"Thank you for summoning the door, Rodo~" The man purred, a hand placed leisurely behind his back. The boy looked between the two uncertainly.

"So, who is this little kid, Duke?" She asked curiously, casting her gaze on him again.

"I've decided to take this child into our family. You see, he's lost his Father." He said before ushering the boy towards the door again. "His name is Allen Walker. I'd like to get him out of here before that meddlesome man, Cross, shows his face." He added, making the girl nod in understanding as her gaze fell on the green cross in the boy's hand. 'Allen' looked between them in confusion as he was pushed towards the door.

The boy's small body was shaking as he walked beside the large man, seemingly as though being pulled along by some otherworldly force rather than by his own will. Allen was still in shock over the second loss of his foster father, the man who had taken him in when no one else wanted him. He'd had renewed hope for the briefest of moments but that had been shattered.

'_Mana…he must hate me now.'_ This was a thought that Allen couldn't suppress as he looked at the strange girl that had appeared, stepping towards the door. His gaze kept sweeping between the man and the girl uncertainly, but the man had said that this was what Mana would have wanted and Allen didn't want to do anything else that would further anger Mana.

"Hey, fatso." Called a voice as Allen placed one foot inside. The three turned their heads to see a man with long, unruly red hair dressed in black, a white mask covering the right side of his face, and a white gun glistening from his gloved hand. "Hand over the brat."

A flash of fear appeared in Allen's gaze at the man while the fat man's grin narrowed slightly.

"Marian Cross…I knew you wouldn't be far…" He growled with an almost feral hatred that didn't do anything to alleviate Allen's fear.

"Yeah, well… I just happen to have a promise to keep, that's all. Plus I can't let you steal away some kid with Innocence like this, as much as I'd like to be elsewhere…" He retorted calmly, though Allen could see a hidden look of anger at the fat man. And then another thing caught his attention. What was 'Innocence'? And what did it have to do with him? His questions went unanswered as the fat man grabbed the handle of the umbrella.

"Road, take Allen Walker back home while I deal with this little issue…" He growled, eyeing the red-haired man dangerously.

The girl nodded and pushed Allen through the doorway quickly, leaving no room for argument. Allen cast a quick, confused glance over his shoulder and noted that the fat man was now holding a sword before the doors shut. Not giving much attention to where he was being pushed to, he didn't register that they had exited the door to another place for several seconds.

Allen looked ahead of him again and gasped in awe at the grand appearance of the room, turning in a circle as he took everything in.. Ahead of him stood a pair of staircases on either side of the entrance, a silky red carpet covering the floor all the way down the hallways on either side of the foyer and up the stairs to the second story. Multiple doors lined just about every wall while a glittering crystal chandelier hung from the ceiling. Fine paintings were hung all across the wall and decorative wall lamps lit up the walls on every side. Lush, well cared for potted plants stood at the base of the steps off to the side, and the ceiling stretched higher than he thought possible for a single room. Behind them the checkered door had disappeared and a pair of polished, hardwood doors stood in their place, intricately carved and dawning two fine golden handles.

"Welcome to our home." The girl named Road chimed, hands idly clasped behind her back. All the boy could do was gawk for a long moment before finally finding his voice.

"H-home?" He stuttered, looking at her. He recalled the man from before mentioning taking him into their family, so he couldn't help but ask, "This is…my home…too?" He ventured weakly, still not fully recovered from his experience in the graveyard. She nodded with a constant smile, enjoying his shock at the scale and luxuriousness of it. He looked down, his thoughts swimming in a jumble.

"Who…He…what…" He shook his head, trying to find his voice again. "I mean…what…happened in that…graveyard? Who were those guys?" He asked, desperate to know what was happening. Everything since his foster father had died was a blur to him.

"It will all be explained in due time." She replied before taking him by the arm and pulling him along. He tensed at the sudden motion, not having expected it and stumbled along behind her, still wary around this girl, as well as the man from earlier.

"Wh…where are we going?" He asked, his left eye closed in pain and to keep the blood from leaking into his eyes.

"Lord Millennium left me in charge of you until he gets back, so I'm going to get you cleaned up." She purred as she pulled him down a long hallway.

"L-Lord…Millennium…?" He parroted in confusion. "You mean the man who…offered to take me in?" He asked shakily.

"That's right. Lord Millennium, or Duke of the Millennium is what we call him, though some people also call him the Earl, too." She answered simply before stopping in front of a door, swinging it open. The bathroom was fairly exquisite as well, with polished white tiles and a porcelain sink, not to mention the largest bath tub the boy had ever seen in his life on the far wall. He stopped to admire the room as the girl fetched a clean rag and ran it under some water, returning to him and started to clean the blood from the scar on his face, making him jump in surprise since his focus had been on the detail of the room and winced slightly from the mild pain, is thoughts once again going to Mana, the one who had slashed his face…

"So you're name is Allen Walker, right? So, where are you from?" She ventured with obvious curiosity. He nodded as the girl questioned him on his name but merely shrugged when she asked him where he was from.

"Um…somewhere in Britain, I think…" The boy shrugged again. "Not exactly sure where…doesn't matter anyway."

"So what happed to you that the Duke took you in?" She probed insistently, pausing in her scrubbing to wash out the rag. No doubt she'd hear it soon from the 'Duke' but she was buzzing with a lot of questions, especially as to why he took in a weaker sub-human like this. Of course, she hadn't failed to notice the rustic red arm or cross of Innocence, but she could already tell this boy had no idea about it. Tears stung the boy's eyes as he recalled what had happened in the cemetery.

"I tried… to bring Mana… my Father… back to life. But something happened." At this the boy glanced at his left hand; the hand that had succeeded in killing Mana for the second time. "He was angry… and my arm did something weird… and I destroyed him." Allen couldn't keep the tears at bay at this point. It was painful to relive what had to be the worst moment in his young life, despite all his other hardships that he'd already suffered through.

The girl blinked at him sympathetically as she continued scrubbing his face, feeling a bit bad for him despite herself. She realized that the Duke must've been trying to create another Akuma, and the Innocence in the boy's hand must've reacted to it. And this was the end result.

"You don't have to worry. I'm sure Duke Millennium will be able to explain everything." She assured, finishing with her cleaning in no time and going to wash out the rag.

"I hope so…" The boy really hoped that the man known as Duke Millennium would be able to explain to him exactly what was going on… because he was at a loss.

His thoughts were snapped back to reality as a human-like figure with dark gray skin and a black upside-down star on their forehead entered, an apathetic expression on its face. The odd maid woman passed the two without a glance and began filling the large tub with hot water while the girl rung out the rag for the last time and dropped it into a basket, not noticing the boy's almost terrified look as his gaze followed the maid.

"You can wash up there and then come out whenever you're ready." She said, turning to him again.

"Wh-what is that thing?" He squeaked. A second being seemed to be protruding from the maid, like a mummy with a stitch mouth, hunched over in a fetal position in the air, surrounded by an unusual glowing energy. The girl looked between Allen and the maid, not sure what he meant or what he was seeing, but after a moment she noticed his left eye had changed. It had turned a near solid black color with a red bulls-eye shape as the iris and pupil now.

"That is what is called an Akuma. You could say they help us out. The Duke will explain it all to you soon." She assured before leaving. Once the tub had been filled the Akuma maid also briefly left so that Allen was completely alone. After a few seconds another entered, which also had a second being protruding from it to Allen's eyes, and left a change of clean clothes just inside before also exiting. After waiting a few minutes to make absolutely certain that no one else was going to barge into the room, he removed his clothes and slipped into the tub.

The hot water felt good on his battered body and for a moment Allen just allowed the water to soothe the physical aches. The mental ones, however, would take longer to go away. He let his mind drift a bit back to the graveyard and everything the girl, Road, and the 'Duke' had said to him, especially the word for those…whatever they were. Akuma, was it? He'd heard it somewhere recently and tried to recall exactly where, searching through his memory tiredly. Then his thoughts dwelled on when he had called forth the soul of his deceased foster father, despite that he didn't want to think about it very much, still recovering from the trauma…

"_Hello, little boy~" The purring voice greeted as the figure leaned over the tombstone that had been erected for his foster father, looking at him from behind his round glasses. "Would you like me to revive Mana Walker for you?" The boy's gray eyes looked up at the man weakly, a flicker of hopefulness in his eyes._

"_You could do that…for me?" He asked weakly._

"_Why of course~! But I can only do it with your help…" He purred, stepping aside to reveal a black skeletal looking thing. "All you have to do is call out his name and I can call your precious father back for you." He purred. The small brown haired boy shakily got to his feet, hobbling toward the skeletal creature before him._

"_A…all I have to do…is call his name…?" He asked again hesitantly, looking at the large man hopefully._

"_That's right~ Just call him back, and you'll be reunited." He purred. The boy looked back again for a moment before calling out the name of the only person that had ever truly cared for him._

"_MANA!" A flash of light shot to the black skeleton, etching the name of his father on the skeleton's forehead. He brightened hopefully but the voice of his resurrected father sounded far from pleased._

"_A…llen…you turned me into…an Akuma…" He growled. The boy gasped as one of the sharp arms of the skeleton lashed down across his eye, falling back in surprise and pain. "You turned me into an Akuma!!!" Mana snarled furiously. "I'll curse you…I'll curse you, ALLEN!!!"_

Allen jumped, splashing water as he tried to force the memory away, tears welling at his eyes again as sobs started to erupt for another time and he wept to himself, wishing that he had never done that to his father that had already done so much for him. He felt like he'd somehow betrayed Mana. Wiping away the tears that had started streaming down his cheeks he went back to cleaning himself up.

After thoroughly washing Allen stepped from the tub, using one of the fluffy towels to dry himself before he put on the clothes that had been left for him. Then, once he was dressed, Allen gazed down at himself briefly. The clothes that had been left for him were composed of a white dress shirt and black dress pants that, although were simple in design, were still elegant and expensive in their own way, more so than his previous clothes by far.

"I look weird…" He muttered to himself before leaving the room. He had no idea where he was supposed to go and his gaze surveyed his surroundings as he stepped back out into the hallway, looking around hesitantly.

'_Now what?' _ He thought. He turned his gaze as he heard a sigh, seeing an older male just down the hall walking toward him. He was a bit tall and dressed in a black and white tuxedo, his skin a dark gray and a crown of black crosses across his forehead. The man ran a hand through his slightly curled black hair that was tied into a loose ponytail, while he held a black top hat in his other hand before looking up with piercing golden eyes. He raised a brow at the boy with short, brown hair. He'd heard something about the Duke bringing home a boy, but he hadn't been paying much attention otherwise.

He noticed the boy looked a bit lost, though he wasn't too surprised with how big the mansion was, and stopped a few feet away, the boy shifting uncomfortably under his gaze.

"Hey, boy. Lost, are we?" Allen absently wondered how many people called this place home, though it seemed large enough to him to house an entire city, and he paled slightly at that thought, not having had very good experiences with most people, owing to his deformed arm.

"It's not boy…my name's Allen. And I'm not lost. Just not exactly sure where I'm supposed to go." It was far from a polite answer but at the moment, Allen was unconcerned by that fact, despite that Mana had been teaching him to always be polite and gentlemanly. The man was slightly impressed by the brazen response despite himself, a brow still raised.

"Well if you're done with whatever you were doing, then I would assume that the Duke and Road are waiting in the den, which I'm assuming you don't know where that is." He stated.

"Um…unfortunately no." Allen continued to stare at the man for a couple of moments longer, a thin piece of fabric clutched in his right hand. The boy had left the top button of his collar unbuttoned and had decided against the neck tie. Mainly because he had no idea how to tie the darn thing. The man before him sighed and started down the hall past him, gloved hands going to his pockets as he returned his top hat to its perch.

"Fine then. Follow me." He instructed. Allen hesitated for only a moment before falling into step behind the man silently.

The man in the tux led the way to a pair of doors just a little ways away from the front of the manor, pushing the thick, polished doors open by their gold handles. The room inside was generally dark, a large fire place on the far wall the only thing illuminating the room once the doors closed again and the man led Allen inside. The fat man from before, who Road and the man in the tux kept calling 'Duke', looked up curiously as the two entered, sitting on a wooden rocking chair near the fireplace while Road was laying on the ground stomach down, , idly kicking her legs in the air.

Allen's gray eyes surveyed the room, falling on the fat man and girl from earlier, recalling their names after a moment of thought. This room was just as lavish as the others in the manor, or at least as far as Allen could tell. It was a little difficult owing to the lack of light. She brightened as they entered before the Duke spoke.

"Ah~ There you are, Tyki-pet~! And I see you've met Allen Walker already." The Duke greeted as the man twitched at the pet name, sighing and pinching the bridge of his nose.

"Like I've said before, _Please_ don't call me that, Duke Millennium." He strained. The boy's gaze went back to the man, whom the Duke had called 'Tyki-pet', and he took in the irritation in the man's voice.

'_Note to self, don't call him by that name.'_ He silently thought.

"Please, feel free to make yourself at home, Allen Walker." The Duke said, motioning to the general area around the fireplace with one hand. Tyki, for his part, took a seat in an armchair a little farther away from the group, digging around in his breast pocket for something idly.

"Um…thank you." He uttered, remembering the manners that Mana had taught him. Allen idly stepped further into the room . He didn't really know what to do so he sat down in a plushy chair, gazing around the room for a couple of minutes more before turning questioning eyes to Duke Millennium. He was careful to mind his manners again as he spoke to the man. "Excuse me, Duke Millenium, can I ask a question?"

"Of course, go right ahead." He responded, motioning with his hand for the boy to continue. Allen's thoughts briefly flashed back to the strange creature that Road had called an Akuma, and to the graveyard for a moment, before the boy took a deep breath and continued.

"Those…Akuma, was it? What exactly are they? Look's almost like two people sharing one body…" Allen tilted his head slightly to the side as this thought crossed his mind.

"Oh?" The Duke thought a moment, remembering Road had mentioned something about it after leaving Allen to his own devices. "Well, to put it simply, the Akuma are sort of like soldiers of God." He said carefully, a hand placed to his chin thoughtfully. "I was about to explain this to you, actually. After all, you are part of the family now." The Duke noted a curious, somewhat confused glance from Tyki as the man pulled out a cigarette he'd been searching for, lighting it and placing it to his lips. "As well as about that arm."

Allen's gaze shifted to his left arm, the source of much of the suffering he had endured in his life.

"You know what's wrong with it?" He'd always been curious about the strange appendage but even more so after the incident at the cemetery.

"Indeed I do~" The Duke purred. "It's actually made out of a substance referred to as Innocence, what some like to call 'God's crystal', and you are not the only one that possesses it. There are others who have it as well, only theirs each take a different form." He stated, earning Allen's full attention. His mind flashed to the red haired man in the cemetery that had mentioned something about it before his thoughts returned to the present.

"W…was that man…in the cemetery…did he have it too?" He couldn't help but ask hesitantly, earning a nod from the Duke.

"Yes, he is indeed. He's been quite troublesome to us as well. You see, the people who use 'Innocence' refer to themselves as 'Exorcists', working for an organization that call themselves the Black Order and work for the church. However, even though they call that substance the 'God's Crystal' and say that they are there to help the world, they are the true enemies and destroyers of the world." He rumbled.

"Enemies of the world…" Allen repeated, his gaze once again shifting to his left hand. His thoughts shifted back to the comments that people had made about his arm in the past. "So everyone was right… I really am an abomination…" He thought aloud dejectedly.

"No, no, you shouldn't say that~!" The Duke interjected. "In fact, you may be just what we need to turn the tables." He said thoughtfully. "You see, the exorcists are chosen by the Innocence, and because they are accommodators, or people chosen by the Innocence, the Black Order recruits them, telling them that they are carrying out God's will, but it is really the work of the Devil. Theirs is a false God, but those in our family are the true apostles of God, and although you aren't _exactly_ the same, you're part of our family now." He said with a gleeful tone.

"But if I was chosen by the Innocence…doesn't that make me the same as them?" Allen was slightly curious and confused about how he was different from the others who had this substance called Innocence.

"Yes, in a way, you are the same, but you have not been tainted by them or their false god as those in the Black Order have, because we just so happened to find you first. Luckily we made it to you before that man, Cross, otherwise he would have tainted you and tricked you into joining them. And with the proper guidance and training, you will be able to use your Innocence to save this world, following the will of the true God." He purred. Tyki no longer looked surprised as he idly puffed away at his cigarette while Road seemed interested in listening, or more specifically, listening to Allen.

"The Innocence chooses who will wield it, the person doesn't choose the Innocence. That means that you have the _choice_ to be an exorcist or not." Road added, kicking her legs in the air and earning Allen's attention. "Which means you can also choose to join us and be a true apostle instead of a false one."

"I think that…Mana would want me to help people." The boy's thoughts once again returned to the man who had taken him in when he had no one, and for a second his mind flashed back to his foster father's resurrection.

_You turned me into an Akuma!!!_

Allen swiftly shook his head, choking back the tears that threatened to well up again as he looked to the Duke.

"…but…when I tried to…to bring Mana back…" He said, earning Tyki's curious attention. "…he sounded angry about it…like being turned into an Akuma was bad…" He choked.

"Hm…" The Duke put a hand to his chin thoughtfully for several seconds. "Well… sometimes the souls that are brought back are confused or scared… especially if they have been tricked by the false god that the Exorcists follow…" He explained. "But by turning them into Akuma, you are really saving their souls." Allen looked at him for a few moments longer before looked down again.

"Oh…" He uttered, figuring that that made sense.

"However, once an Akuma is destroyed by Innocence, it is taken by the false god again…" He stated, making Allen flinch slightly. "However, you can redeem yourself to Mana and the true God if you help us, and the people out there all across the world." Allen looked at the Duke thoughtfully before holding up his left hand, gazing intently at the little green cross imbedded in it.

"Then if this can help people and make Mana happy…then I'm all for using it." His gaze once again shifted to the Duke of the Millennium. "I choose to be a member of your family." The Duke's ever present grin widened slightly.

"I knew you'd make the right decision." He said. "Now I'm sure you've had a long day. Why don't you go sleep? After all, there will be much to do now that you're joining our family." He said before looking to Road. "Why don't you show Allen Walker to his bedroom, Rodo~?" He suggested. With smile still present, she jumped to her feet.

"Of course."

Allen got to his feet at the same time, practically waiting for the girl named Road to seize him by the arm as she had before. But before that happened the youth turned to Duke Millennium and offered the man a polite bow.

"Thank you for everything, sir."

"It was no trouble at all. Now hurry off to bed. A boy like you needs his rest." The Duke purred. Road took that as her cue and quickly dragged Allen out of the room and up the nearest flight of stairs in the foyer to the second story hall and into an elegantly decorated room.

"This is your room." Road said, looking at him to see his reaction to all this.

"You could've just told me to follow y'know." The boy muttered before his gaze swept across the room that she said would be his. His gray eyes grew wide. Inside the room was a rather large bed, covered in regal, thick red silk blankets and pillows, a few paintings on the walls and just as exquisite curtains hanging in front of the window. A few tall bookshelves stood on one wall while a polished hardwood dresser stood on one side of the bed and a night stand on the other. This was far more than he was accustomed to and he actually found himself at a loss for words.

"Are…are you serious?" He asked as he finally found his voice, turning his gaze back to Road. She nodded with a satisfied look, getting great enjoyment out of his bewildered expression.

"The whole room is all yours." She replied.

"Wow," the boy breathed, the neck tie he'd been holding fluttering to the floor as his hand slackened. This was beyond even his wildest dreams. He barely registered Road let go of his arm and prance across the room, circling around to the other side of the bed, hopping onto it stomach first and bouncing slightly as she made impact.

"Why don't you come feel how comfy the bed is?" She said, looking at him almost expectantly.

Allen hesitated for a moment, not sure whether to or not, but after a moment, the pull was just too strong for him to withstand. Walking across the room the boy flung himself on the bed. It was wonderfully soft and Allen felt himself sink down slightly.

"This…is the softest bed I've ever felt." He sighed contently. He never even thought it was possible for a bed to be as soft and comfortable as this, it was almost like laying on a cloud. Road's face was filled with amusement, chin resting on her palms as she gazed at him.

"And if you ever need anything, one of us or the maids is pretty much always around. My room is just two doors down from here." She added the last part with a slight purr to her voice.

"Thank you. I'll remember that." He said gratefully, offering Road a smile. This was so much different from the life that Allen had led up until this point and he was feeling a little bit overwhelmed. Road smiled wider before sliding off the bed, trotting to the door and turning around in the doorway, hands behind her back.

"I'm going to go talk to the Duke. You can just relax or sleep in here now if you want." She said before leaving and heading downstairs again. Allen watched her leave before pulling off his shoes and settling in the center of the bed. So much had happened that day and the boy was still somewhat confused.

'_This seems somewhat strange…'_ He thought to himself, pulling his knees to his chest and wrapping his arms around them. _'…but everyone here is so nice. I'll have to work hard to find a way to repay them for taking me in.'_

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Tyki sighed, releasing a cloud of smoke as Road pulled the boy from the room, looking over at the Duke Millennium.

"Honestly, I'm surprised that you would make a move like this, Lord Millennium." He said, still arching a dark brow in the large Victorian's direction. "Do you really think a boy with Innocence will be able to help us? What if he decides to join the Order after all?"

"You're just thinking to hard about this, Tyki-pon. As long as we're careful not to expose him to them too soon, he'll stay loyal to us. After all, he'd do anything for his Father." The Duke purred, having thought this through rather carefully. "We only need to continue our charade for a while. Eventually he'll follow us without question or hesitation. Just give it time." He assured. "Speaking of the boy and the Exorcists, he'll need someone to train him… I'd like you to do it, at least at first." Tyki sighed and hung his head slightly.

"Sure, why not?" He conceded reluctantly.

"Good. Now, once your current mission is finished and you've returned, you can begin with the training." He said with a satisfied nod of his head. "And be sure he doesn't come into contact with any exorcists. _Especially_ not Marian Cross."

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**Authors Note(2):** So yeah, pretty much the Earl went and deceived Allen into joining them, but what's new? Lol Obviously Road is going to enjoy Allen being with them quite a lot, but aside from that, I'll probably only spend 2-3 more chapters on young Allen. Please **R&R!!!**

~Kou


	2. The Welcome

**Authors Note(Kougetsu):** Wow, 12 reviews? I think that's the most reviews I've gotten on a single chapter in my life. In fact, it's almost more reviews than I've ever gotten on a single story!(Except _Jinx of the Sphinx_ but that had ten chapters). My greatest thanks go out to _Lilanimefan247_, _Addenza_, _KuroiWing_, _Rin'negan_Naruto_, _Allen_the_Musician_, _Pri-Chan_1410_, _Elementstar_, _Animeandvamps_pwn_all_, and _Orchamus_ for their lovely reviews! And I can't forget the just as lovely reviews from my anonymous people out there, _Hount_, _Sared_, and _luvu_. Seriously, you guys made me SOOOOOO happy. I can't thank you enough. But I'll try with this new chapter I've whipped up. I also want to thank _Allen_the_Musician_ for helping me with developing this a bit of this so far!

I'm also very happy because this chapter turned out to be probably _the_ longest chapter I've written for a story ever. E-V-E-R. Thirteen full pages baby, thirteen awesome, freakin' pages! And I loved writing every bit of it. I think this may have _almost_ replaced _'Of Divine Instruments and Innocence'_ as my favorite story to write for. It's just _that_ awesome. I also decided to throw a little in there for Cross since he and the Earl had a little meeting in the last chapter. Hopefully I did him justice? Even when he _finally_ comes into the story for a few chapters and you get to see how he is, he's still a bit of an enigma. Which is sad, because I happen to like Cross. Why are all the most awesome characters so enigmatic? –sigh-

Plus I wanted to throw some comedy in here so I hope I accomplished everything I set out to do this chapter. So, without further adieu, here's chapter 2!(Oh dear god, it rhymes…)

**Disclaimer:** Sadly, I cannot claim the honor of owning the rights to D Gray Man. Maybe if I asked Katsura Hoshino _reeeeeaaaallly _nicely…? Sadly, that'll probably never happen. Except in my dreams…

**

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Distortion**

**A D Gray Man Fanfiction**

**By: Hakuma_Twins**

**Chapter by: Kougetsu_KitsuneHinote_Hakuma

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**Chapter 2: **The Welcoming

"Damn it…" Black boots slapped against the cobblestone streets as a tall figure in black walked at a swift, purposeful pace. It wasn't so much that he was heading anywhere particular, or at least not that he knew of yet, he was simply furious. His long, wild red hair whipped behind him. A black hat covered the top of his head and his black uniform was adorned with glimmering gold instead of the typical silver on the uniforms of most other exorcists. Not but some thirty or so minutes ago had that damn fatso eluded him and scampered off with a boy who was not only the vessel that the traitor Noah, but was also an Accommodator for Innocence.

He'd had a bad feeling ever since the day had started, a nudging force in the back recesses of his mind that had warned him something was off. At first he thought it was just some side effect of the wine he'd had only the night before and that had left him with a hangover when he'd risen just some time after dawn. But even after the incessant, non-existent hammer to his brain had subsided, that off feeling did not. It had only been a day or so since the traitor Noah's older brother had died, leaving behind that one small boy. Was it coincidence, or Fate, that that same boy who had become the vessel of the traitor Noah's memories should end up being taken in by the same older brother of that particular Noah? He wasn't too sure.

The funeral was short, blunt, and long over. No one had really shown up except the men who had been the cause of the unfortunate accident, the priest who would give his speech for the dead man, those who would bury him, and the child. And as soon as the funeral ended, everyone left. Everyone but the one, newly orphaned, child. He wanted to give the child some room to mourn. Sympathy for such situations wasn't really his thing, and he was sure the child needed some time to return from his pit of sorrow. How could he have been so stupid as to allow himself to do that? He should've known better. He was an exorcist, damn it. He was Marian Cross. He of all people should've foreseen what would happen.

He should've been quicker. He should've been more alert. He should've _been_ there.

He only growled low in his throat over his own idiocy. The boy had just lost the only person who mattered in his life. He was in pain. His only reason for living was gone. He wanted his Father back. And of course, that was all the incentive the Earl needed. And as night crept in, his bad feeling only worsened, egging him on. For a while he simply ignored it, but the incessant warning finally caused him to make a hasty move to head to the cemetery, if only to quell his rising feeling of doom. And as he went, it was only growing. It got to the point that he'd sent Timcanpy ahead of him, to be sure, and yet the knot only grew.

It wasn't until he'd reached the cemetery that he knew that his bad feeling wasn't just some odd sense of paranoia, as he saw that stupid fatso luring the child away. Taking him.

That was something he couldn't allow.

And of course, even as he faced that stupid, grinning demon of a rolly-poly, the boy had eluded him, falling straight into the Earl's palm. Damn it. Damn it all to Hell. The short battle, which had been more to acquire information about the brat that the Earl had so easily tricked, hoping to retrieve the boy, had been pointless in the end as the Earl himself escaped. He didn't know where the boy was. He didn't know what the Earl planned to do with him. This had just thrown a giant wrench into his entire plan.

That boy was the only remnant of the traitor Noah. That Noah was the only one who could move and control the Ark. The fabled Noah's Ark. That Noah's memories were implanted and preserved in one place and one place only. That boy.

Muttering a string of curses, he whipped around a corner with his gold golem following him. Luckily Tim had made it in time to catch and record the whole scene as the Earl made his fateful, dreaded appearance. Cross probably wouldn't have even known the boy possessed Innocence had Timcanpy not seen the scene as the boy's left arm activated and tore the Akuma that was once his father to pieces and ultimately destroyed it.

He finally reached a nicer inn he'd been staying at, bursting through the door and scaring the front desk attendant half out of his wits as it crashed against the wall with a loud _bang_ and he stormed past him up the stairs to the second story, up towards the rooms and whipping down the hall, entered a door to his left. The room wasn't luxurious, but it wasn't bleak or cheap either. He didn't have the patience or humbleness to stay in anything cheap. It just wasn't up to his standard otherwise. It wasn't his thing.

Storming across the room, he went to a table that sat at one corner and swiftly whipped out a piece of parchment, laying it on the table before searching for a quill and a vial of ink. When he found it he hastily wrote across it with his quill, practically fuming in anger. When he was satisfied with his somewhat sloppy, quickly written letter he sealed it in an envelope, folding it in half.

"Tim, I need you to fly this to headquarters, now." He ordered. The gold golem looked at him for a moment before obediently snapping the letter up and darting out the open window. It was only a few seconds before the gold creature disappeared into the night sky and Cross walked across the room, plucking a glass from the counter and pouring wine into it before walking across the room and flopping into a chair with a heavy sigh, careful not to slosh the cup of wine around too much. No decent wine should ever be wasted, in his eyes. Not a single drop. With that in mind he took a large sip, tipping his head back as he let the alcohol burn the back of his throat before pulling the wine glass away from his lips, letting his head fall back over the top of the chair in dismay.

When had things gone so _wrong_?

* * *

Allen awoke with a start to the sound of something crashing just outside his room and, jumping up, the boy rushed to the door without even bothering to grab his discarded shoes or the jacket that he had removed the night before, noting out of the corner of his eye that it was morning. The kid thrust open the door and came face to face with two of the strangest people he had probably ever seen. And he practically grew up at the circus, home of the Clowns, acrobats, and most notably the Freak Show. Which was saying a lot.

One had messy, wild black hair that spiked slightly in the back and heavy eye make up drawn into spikes extending from each eye lid and a length of gauze wrapped around his neck. A baggy black coat with white fur trim sat over a white tank-top. One of his black pant legs cut off at the thigh and he wore boots that also had fur trim.

The other was a - that was a boy, right? – with flowing blond hair over his(?) shoulders, with oddly unfocused eyes and stitching across his mouth, while what seemed to be some blue orb of light on the end of a twig extended from the top of his head like some kinds of fish Allen had heard about. Both his hands and arms were covered in bandages from just below his elbow to the base of his fingers. An unzipped vest with fur trim on the collar was the only thing that covered his otherwise bare chest, and his pants and boots were the same, only both pant legs extended all the way down instead of one cutting off near the top.

Both figures were pointing a pair of gold pistols at each other, making the brown-haired boy a little nervous.

"So there really is someone new around here," the man with black hair commented, his gaze focused on Allen.

"Strange, strange." The blond whose mouth seemed to be stitched closed commented, although exactly how that was possible Allen wasn't sure. The black haired boy raised an eyebrow and narrowed his other eye slightly in scrutiny, though it was hard to see his eyebrows with the heavy amount of black make-up around his eyes, as he looked Allen up and down critically. After a few seconds Road appeared coming up the stairs, skipping up the steps two at a time. The black-haired boy's eyes landed on Allen's left arm and he stared at it for a long moment as if not believing his eyes.

"Hey, what gives? Why does this kid have Innocence?" He growled suspiciously, waving his pistol through the air with the barrel pointed at the ceiling. Road skipped from the stairs to the door of Allen's room, and instantly wrapped her arms around the somewhat smaller boy affectionately.

"The Duke took him in to be part of the family before the Exorcists could get to him." She explained simply. The blonde's eyes widened in shock as he listened to her explanation.

"Are you serious?" The black-haired boy asked, completely ignoring his companions gawking expression. Road nodded at the black-haired boy who scowled in response disapprovingly.

"Um…" Allen was slightly uncomfortable, owing to Road's arms wrapped around him as well as the two pistol toting newcomers. "…I'm not going to get shot, am I?" Perhaps it wasn't the most polite question he could have asked but it seemed an important matter, at least to Allen. And of course his question went unanswered.

"And just what use is an Innocence-wielding runt to us?" He growled, leaning over and waving the gun in front of Allen's nose, making him pale considerably, sure that he was about to loose a nose or an eye any second.

"Yeah, what use? Hee!" The blond crowed. Road pouted at them disapprovingly.

"The Duke will explain it soon, so stop scaring my Allen!" She warned. The threat of being shot was somehow forgotten as Allen almost choked.

"Y-_your_…Allen?" The boy's gaze shifted back and forth between the gun that was mere inches from his face to the girl who had her arms wrapped around him. And, even though it should've been blatantly obvious, Allen found that he couldn't decide which one was more of a threat.

"Feh…leave it to you to fall for an Accommodator." The black-haired boy sneered, standing back up.

"Traitor, hee hee!" The other agreed. Road gave them a dark look before changing her attention to Allen.

"Those two are part of the family, too. The black haired one is Debitto and the blond one is Jasdero." She introduced.

"And together we are Jasdevi!" The blond one cheered.

"Now, about what I came up here for in the first place." Road stated, ignoring Jasdero and Debitto for the moment. "I wanted to ask you if you wanted to come downstairs for breakfast." Allen had been thinking that Debitto and Jasdero were a little insane but all thoughts on the matter disappeared as soon as Road mentioned the magic word and a bright smile appeared on the boy's face.

"That sounds great…just let me grab my shoes and jacket!" And with this Allen pulled himself from Road's grip and rushed back into his room. Jasdero and Debitto exchanged a glance while Road just blinked in slight surprise over his enthusiasm. Road took her eyes away from Allen for a moment to look at the two seemingly older boys. Technically Road was 'older' but she never appeared that way.

"Aren't you going to talk to Duke Millennium about your mission?" She asked with a blank face. "Or…did you fail?" The two got an insane gleam in their eyes at that, waving their guns again as they both leaned almost face to face.

"Of course we didn't!"

"Jasdevi never fails, hee!" The two cried rather loudly. "Jasdevi wanted to see the new person!" Road only stared at them blankly, despite the ferocity of the two.

"Well, that's good then. I'm sure the Duke would want to know." She pointed out.

"Yeah, yeah, we're going." Debitto sniffed contemptibly with a hand on his hip, waving her off before the two indignantly waltzed off.

Allen returned within minutes, hastily pulling on a black jacket that had been left for him the night before. He wasn't used to wearing so many clothes but got the impression that Duke Millennium liked formality.

"I'm ready." He said, slightly out of breath as he rejoined Road in the corridor. He saw that Jasdero and Debitto were leaving and this helped him to relax a degree. "Are those two…um…right in the head?" Road merely shrugged slightly in dismissal.

"Yeah, I suppose so. You get used to them after a while." She said, leading the way down to the dining hall. Allen followed along behind Road, his gaze shifting about and taking in his surroundings. He supposed that he could get used to the two crazy boys, so long as they didn't shoot him.

'_I just hope they're not dangerous._' He thought. However, all contemplation on Jasdero and Debitto vanished as they reached the dining hall. It sat close to the large room from the night before and was also rather large, with a circular polished oak table, and across it sat many different assortments of food, while a pair of Akuma maids shuffled about, finishing setting the table and laying out the food. His mouth immediately began to water and his stomach let out a rather embarrassing growl. He noted the Duke sitting at the opposite end of the table with the same perpetual grin as before, hands folded on the table.

"Welcome, Allen~! So glad you could join us!" He purred. Jasdero and Debitto entered the room and flopped unceremoniously into a pair of chairs beside each other.

"What's up with taking in an Accommodator?" Debitto immediately questioned.

"In a moment, I'll explain everything. But first, why don't we start eating and discuss it over food? We wouldn't want our newest little family member to remain hungry any longer after all. Come, eat, Allen~. As much as you'd like." He said, motioning to the table for him to sit down. The corners of Allen's mouth twitched up into a smile as he immediately sat down in the chair that the Duke had motioned to.

"Thank you," Allen said in a quiet voice. The boy had intended to show his manners however the sight of so much food reminded him of the fact that he hadn't eaten in a couple of days.

'_And he said I can have as much as I want,'_ the youth thought happily. At the moment it didn't matter to Allen that the two boys from before still seemed to resent his presence.

"Now that we're all seated, let's begin. Allen, do you know the story of Noah's Ark and the flood?" The Duke purred curiously. The boy tilted his head to one side in thought.

"I think…I may have heard it a long time ago."

"Well, it tells of a man long ago who gathered his family and two animals of every kind in the world aboard a giant Ark after being told by God that the world would flood, so that the humans who had become corrupt and sinful would be destroyed, and the world would be able to begin anew. For many long days it rained, as the story goes." The Duke explained. He seemed to have caught the full attention of Jasdero and Debitto, while Road seemed solemn and thoughtful. Allen gazed at the Duke and listened intently, finding that the story that he told seemed vaguely familiar to the boy, although he couldn't remember where he'd heard it.

"Well, there is some truth to this story, but many of the details are different. Those who know the true story of Noah's Ark and the flood refer to it as the 'Three Days of Darkness'. A very long time ago, a human made the substance known as Innocence and attacked Noah's family, because the Noah's were specially chosen by God, while the Innocence was the work of the Devil. In the end, he nearly destroyed all of the family, and the world itself had been destroyed. That was the Three Days of Darkness. But as the world began to return to its normal state, the remaining Noah's left the Ark, which had been their safe haven that they had escaped into at the end of the battle. Over time, children were born into the reborn world and over time, it became as it is now." He explained carefully.

"Every human in existence carries the genes of Noah, but most humans do not know this and have cast aside their true selves, while a few individuals have awakened. Those who have 'awakened' are part of Noah's family, while the other humans, we ourselves call 'sub-humans'. They are significantly weaker than us. And now, as you have no doubt noticed, the sub-humans have become corrupted once more."

"So…" Allen began, trying to get a firm grip on what Duke Millennium was telling him. "That means that I'm one of those 'sub-humans' and this," his gaze shifted to the little green cross that was embedded in the back of his hand, "is evil. The work of the devil." At this point the child turned questioning eyes to the man that had taken him in. "So then why did you take me in?"

"Yeah, I'm still not getting this." Debitto added, surprisingly agreeing with him.

"Jasdevi is confused, hee…"

"Yes, under normal circumstances this would be nearly unheard of. However, as I said before, you had not been tainted by the Order yet, the organization of exorcists, and although Innocence is the work of the Devil, you have control of it. For the longest time, Noah's family and the exorcists have been at war with each other. Although it will not be for a while, I would like you to fight with us against the exorcists, to cleanse this world, just as is God's will for his true apostles to carry out. Although not an awakened Noah, you may prove to be just as important to this war, and be able to use the devil's weapon against them. An accommodator turned to the path of the true God is the last thing the exorcists will expect. You are every bit as important to this family as you would be if you were an awakened Noah." The Duke assured with his usual purr.

"Oh, I think I get it…" Debitto said, reclining back in his chair. "Give 'em a taste of their own medicine when they least expect it." He mused, a smirk forming.

"Good thinking, hee! Jasdevi would have never thought of that." Allen continued to gaze at the little green stone for a few moments longer before turning gray eyes to the Duke.

"I'll do whatever you want me to…it's the least I can do for the kindness you've shown me." The boy had mixed feelings about the idea of fighting in a war but if he could be of use to the family that had taken him in then it was something that he had to do.

"Good. It brings me great happiness to hear that from you. After you get settled and comfortable living here, and once Tyki-pon returns, you can begin your training." Duke Millennium said with a nod of approval.

'_Tyki?'_ Allen thought to himself, head tilting slightly to one side. _'Oh yeah, the guy with the cigarettes…'_

"Exactly what kind of training?" The child questioned, slightly curious about what he would be asked to do.

"Well that depends on what Tyki or anyone else training you decides to do, but for the most part, it will be for fighting with and controlling that arm, of course~." Allen's gaze became downcast at this moment.

"You mean…making it do what it did before…in the cemetery." Thoughts of Mana and what his cursed arm had done immediately flood Allen's mind but the child forced them to the back of his mind. He had no idea what had happened but it was almost as though his arm had a mind of its own.

"Yes, except you will be in control of it this time." The Duke promised, folding his hands in front of him on the table. "And this time, you will be doing it for the betterment of the world."

"Alright." Allen's gaze was focused squarely on the large man who had taken him in. "I promised to do whatever you asked of me and I'll keep that promise."

* * *

It had been a few days since the Duke had brought Allen to the Noah Family mansion, and Road had taken a great liking to him, often trying to get him to dress up in all kinds of different outfits and clothing she thought would make him look 'cute'. He'd also learned the hard way, that 'playing' with her often involved sharp, flying candles pointed into killer spikes and lots of running, and while Jasdero and Debitto still didn't like him, they no longer complained about his presence. At the moment, there were also two other currently awakened Noah's. Tyki's older brother, Sherril, who was the adopted father of Road, and a female Noah by the name of Lulu Bell, who wasn't the most sociable person. The mansion also had a great collection of books and other exquisite items of all kinds.

Road skipped down the hall with the pink umbrella the Duke so often carried, which was actually alive and went by 'Lero', in tow as she appeared in Allen's doorway, a gleeful smile on her face, the boy having left his door open.

"Allen~!" She purred. Allen cast his gaze in the direction of the Noah girl in the doorway, who had once again managed to liberate Lero from the Duke.

"What is it, Road?" the boy asked, a note of caution in his voice. "If you've come to play, you should know that I've barely had time to recover from the last time." Road pouted slightly at that, feigning slight hurt as she stood in the doorway.

"It wasn't _that_ bad…I wouldn't want to hurt my new younger brother, after all." She stated matter-of-factly. Allen actually scoffed at that, remembering the feel of one of her candles scratching against his flesh.

"All that and you say you _weren't_ trying to kill me?" The boy shook his head. "Hate to see what you're like when you seriously want to hurt someone."

"Well what would _you_ rather do?" She asked with slight disappointment edging her voice.

"I'd like to go outside." Allen said, his gaze focused intently on Road. "I haven't seen daylight since I arrived here…I'm not used to spending so much time indoors." Road brightened slightly, idly twirling Lero.

"We can go play in the garden." She suggested, a smile growing.

"There's a garden?" Allen questioned, not having been aware of that. Of course he hadn't seen anything outside of the mansion. The boy's expression brightened despite the fact that Road used the dreaded word 'play'.

"Of course there is." She chimed, seizing Allen by the arm and dragging him down the hall. "It's behind the house." She explained as she quickly pranced down the stairs with him in tow and down one of the many hallways before exiting through a glass-panel door to a very large expanse of land, which had a lush amount of bushes and shrubs, including what looked like a topiary maze.

'_Gonna get my arm pulled out of socket one of these days…'_ Allen thought ruefully as Road once again dragged him along, but this thought was forgotten the moment they stepped outside. The boy's eyes widened as he took in the garden. Then he turned back to Road.

"So what would you like to play?" Holding his hand behind his back the boy crossed his fingers.

'_Hope I survive this.'_

"Mmmm…" Road placed a hand to her lips in thought, thinking for a long moment for something new to play. Sending her candles flying at Allen and watching him try to dodge them for all his worth was amusing, but she didn't want to do it too much so soon, lest it lose its charm and amusement. An idea suddenly glittered in her eyes as she looked back at Allen. "Let's play 'catch Lero'! He could go through the maze and we try to see who can catch him first!" She suggested gleefully. It had always been an idea of hers but she never had anyone to play it with before, meaning it was no fun anyways, though now she did have a companion to play with.

"What?" Lero cried, wriggling out of her hands and floating in between them. "Road-tama, you shouldn't be using Lero just for your amusement! …_Lero_." The umbrella protested. Allen smirked as he listened to the parasol's protests, knowing that it was only a matter of time before it gave in.

"Please?" Road pouted with a very convincing puppy-dog face. "It would make Allen and I happy…" She begged. Lero sweat-dropped slightly before reluctantly giving in.

"Fine! _Lero_. But just this once, for you!" Lero stated.

'_She's very good at getting what she wants,'_ The boy thought as Lero agreed to play their game. Casting a gaze toward the maze Allen nodded.

"Alright, this game sounds safer than the last. I'm in." The boy watched as Lero entered the maze and promptly disappear.

"The rules are simple: catch Lero before the other, and you can use whatever method you want." She said with a somewhat hidden, almost sadistic glint in her eyes. "Don't get lost~" She added before skipping into the maze merrily to chase after Lero. Allen sweat-dropped slightly. The problem with that, Allen was the master at getting lost. Not _a_ master at it. _The_ master.

'_Hadn't thought of that.'_ With a sigh Allen entered the maze and began his search for the umbrella, whom he found somewhat annoying. _'It's supposed to be fun,'_ He reminded himself as he searched the maze. _'It's a game.'_

There was a slight rustling in one of the bushes just ahead of him that caught his attention and, with a hopeful expression on his face, Allen rushed forward. He could hear a faint whispering sound before it went quite and the branches suddenly stopped moving.

"What the…" Reaching out, Allen pushed the shrubbery aside but there was nothing there. Growling low in his throat the boy continued through the maze, making twists and turns. "Where could he be?" He muttered darkly. After a while longer there was another faint sound of whispering from the other side of one of the bushes, though it was unclear who it was or what they were saying.

His curiosity was piqued at this and Allen quickly made his way toward the spot where the whispering had been coming from. Picking up the pace Allen trotted along, quickly turning the corner and hoping to find whomever it was that was whispering.

"AAAAAH! JASDEVI DOESN'T WANT TO PLAY, Hee!" Jasdero screeched as he and Debitto were surprised by the sudden appearance of the boy, whipping around with pistols armed and waving before they relaxed.

"Oh, it's just you…" Debitto muttered with slight relief, eyeing him with his usual expression of dislike.

"Have you been forced to play Road's games as well?" Allen questioned, eyeing the pistols that were once again being waved in his face. At this point he was certain the twins weren't going to shoot him so he was a little calmer.

"We have." Debitto confirmed, nodding grimly. "That's why we're hiding."

"Hiding, hee hee!" Jasdero agreed readily.

"Are you hiding too?" Debitto ventured critically, raising a brow. Allen shook his head, thinking that he really should have been smart enough not to get roped into this game.

"Um… no. I'm actually looking for Lero." The boy arched a brow at this point, his gaze locked on the twins. "You guy's haven't seen him by any chance, have you?"

"No, but I don't see why Lero would be…here…" Debitto trailed off as both their eyes widened in realization and they looked at each other then back to Allen, their horrified expressions turning threatening as they waved their guns at Allen.

"You led her right to us, you bastard!"

"Led her right to us, hee!" They snarled.

"Be quiet!" Allen hissed, surveying his surroundings with a wary expression. "I haven't led anyone here but you will if you don't be quiet." This said Allen made a move to walk away. "I gotta find Lero." The two fell silent, slightly taken aback by the outburst before scuttling away, intent on avoiding Road as much as possible.

Allen listened as Jasdero and Debitto hurried away and then the boy turned his attention back to his search. Walking around yet another turn in the maze he spied a familiar looking pumpkin over the top of one of the hedges.

"Gotcha," He whispered with a chuckle, making his way toward the umbrella. Intent on ending this game before something bad happened. Lero cast a wary look around as it floated down the path, spotting Allen after a moment as it rounded a corner. The umbrella seemed like it was about to say something when a spiked candle came flying out of one of the bushes only a few inches from it, giving a screech of surprise and some fear as it was nearly hit.

"Found you~!" Road chimed as she rounded a corner, floating candles in tow before her gaze went from Lero to Allen and a devious smirk crossed her lips. "Oh~ there you are~ Allen~." She rang in a sing-song voice. Allen eyed the candles warily as he took a couple of steps toward Lero.

"I didn't think those…." He gestured toward her weapon of choice. "…were going to be involved in this game…"

"Well I did say you could catch him using any method you want." She reminded as she aimed her index finger upwards, her devious smirk growing. "This counts as well." She said before flicking her finger forward, sending the candle-spikes flying at him. Allen launched himself forward, tumbling on the ground and just barely managing to avoid the attack. "Why is it," he began as he jumped to his feet and whirled around to face her, a scowl on his face. "…that every time I agree to play with you I end up running for my life?" Road pouted at him with slight hurt.

"I'd never kill a member of my family, especially not my little brother." She argued before her smile returned in full power. "I just wanna have some fun before Tyki takes you off to train." She said before she sent another wave of candles out. Lero screeched in fear and flew to find cover.

"This wasn't part of the agreement! _Lero_!"

"Could'a fooled me!" Doing a series of handsprings, Allen managed to dodge each of the candles that Road directed toward him, thankful for all the acrobatic training he'd received from his foster father traveling from circus to circus, and leaping into the air, seized Lero's handle before the umbrella had the chance to escape. Swinging Lero forward as he faced Road the youth grinned triumphantly.

"I win."

"Release me,_ Lero_!" Road huffed and reluctantly conceded defeat, dismissing her candles with a pout.

"Fine…you win." She agreed before skipping down the path to where he stood. "So…what would _you_ like to play then? Since you don't like my games it seems…" Allen held a thoughtful expression on his face, idly twirling Lero as he'd seen Road do so often.

"Re-lease me, _Lero_!" The umbrella cried out its protests.

"I don't really know any games," Allen said after a moment. "Never had any reason to learn any. I was always too busy to play." Road tilted her head slightly in question.

"You haven't played any games before now?" She asked, tone somewhat disbelieving. A somewhat hard look appeared in Allen's gray eyes as he gazed at the girl.

"I grew up on the streets…and playing wasn't really high up on my list of priorities. I was more focused on staying alive. Then, after Mana took me in, we were usually working."

"Oh…" Road uttered, her face sympathetic before she walked past him, facing the mansion as she stopped a moment. Allen's gaze followed her curiously, noting a change in her attitude. "You know…I was an orphan before Tyki's older brother, Sherril and my mother adopted me…" She stated thoughtfully, her arms loosely hooked behind her back.

"I'm sorry," Allen murmured, his gaze downcast. "I was abandoned by my parents…for having this strange arm."

"But it's okay." Road interjected, turning around to look at Allen with a fond smile. It was an odd, soft look that he wasn't used to seeing on the young-looking Noah girl. He found he liked that look. "Because we both have a family now. _We're_ family." She stated thoughtfully.

"Family…" Allen repeated before a small smile spread across his face. Walking forward, he offered Road his hand, which she gently took as they started walking. "So do you have any suggestions on what we should do next, since I'm kind of clueless about games?"

"Mmmm…" She placed a finger to her lip in thought before a near wicked grin crossed her face. "We could go 'play' with Jasdero and Debitto…" She purred, her expression hinting that whatever she was planning for the twins, it was rather unpleasant.

"Are you sure that's a good idea?" Allen gazed at Road, pretty much knowing what she was going to say. "They already want to shoot me… is it wise to make that particular situation worse?" At this point the boy gazed at Road forlornly. "Or do you really want to see me get killed?"

"Oh, you don't have to worry. Jasdero and Debitto's guns don't have real bullets in them. Besides, you'll be on the throwing side of the candles with me this time." She chirped, dawning a fairly creepy grin. "And since they're Noah's like me, they won't die or anything from this." She pointed out.

"I don't think that's a good idea, _Lero_." The umbrella croaked. Allen's gaze briefly shifted to said umbrella that was still clutched in one hand before he turned back to Road and nodded his head.

"Alright…but I'm not so sure you'll be able to find them. They were hiding from you earlier." Road's smile grew as she pulled Allen through the maze by his hand.

"Then we'd better start looking~" She rang.

* * *

"Hiding, hee hee!"

"Shut it!" Debitto gazed around, hoping that Road hadn't heard the shout. "I hate to admit it but that runt had a point. She's gonna find us if you keep shouting like that." Jasdero merely grinned. The twins were making their way toward the maze exit but Debitto pulled up short as he heard what sounded like twigs snapping. Holding up their pistols, Jasdero and Debitto turned toward the sound, their gazes landing on Road and Allen. Road was grinning as she held her hands behind her back innocently.

"There you two are. We were looking for you." She said with just as much of an innocent face while they glared at Allen.

"You _did_ lead her to us!"

"Bastard! Hee hee!" Road gave them a disapproving look.

"Awe…you two should be nicer to us…we just wanted to play, after all." She said, a sadistic smirk crossing her lips as she summoned an army of floating candles. The pair deflated slightly, eyes widening, as they both 'uh-oh'ed and quickly whipped around and ran. Road cackled and sent a barrage of her special weapons of choice flying, narily missing as they skidded and pushed each other around a corner. Road laughed and skipped after them merrily.

"Come on, Allen~! Before they get away!" She chimed happily.

"They're going to kill me later." Allen muttered darkly to himself before following along behind Road. The two children ran along the maze, emerging into the garden to find the twins running toward the manor. "I don't really think they like your game." As if to emphasize his point, Jasdero screeched, "Run, hee hee!"

"Of course not. That's what makes it so fun~!" She rang in response, skipping toward the house after them with a rather large, smug smile. Allen shrugged and followed along behind Road as they ran through the garden and toward the house. Ahead of them, the twins were dodging candles left and right, some of them just barely. Running as fast as they could, Jasdero and Debitto entered the house.

"Guess that's the end of the game." Allen commented. "They seem to have escaped."

"Oh no~ they~ haven't~" Road sang, grinning from ear to ear as she pranced after them.

'_Gotta admit I didn't see that one coming…she sure is persistent.'_ Allen thought to himself as he followed along behind.

"Road…" A calm voice called out. "What are you doing?" Allen's gaze shifted toward the sound and he saw it was the tall man in the tux named Tyki. Road paused momentarily to look at her fellow Noah with a smile.

"Oh, Tyki, you're back. Allen and I were just playing a game with Jasdero and Debitto. The Duke didn't have any problem with it as long as we don't break anything." She said, smiling innocently.

"What the _Hell_?" Debitto snarled from somewhere down the hall.

"Everything's locked, hee!" Tyki merely shrugged, pulling a cigarette out of his pocket and lighting it.

"Whatever." Allen turned his gaze toward Road.

"What did you do? 'Cause I know that you're somehow responsible for that little outburst."

"Nothing much." She shrugged innocently. "I just ordered the Akuma maids to lock most of the rooms so they couldn't escape." She grinned.

"Oh, this again…" Tyki muttered, sighing slightly. "Why am I not surprised?"

"Does she do this often?" Allen asked, casting a questioning gaze to Tyki.

"Locking everything in the house so they can't escape? No. Playing target practice with her candles and mind games with the twins? All the time." He answered bluntly, sighing and releasing a cloud of smoke into the air. At that moment Jasdero and Debitto appeared at the end of the corridor, rather irate looks on their faces. And pistols waving in the air. Allen's hand went to his forehead.

"I can't believe they came back…"

"I can." Tyki threw in there.

"They're just trapped, that's all, and this is the only escape until they can get past us." Road said simply with a sly smile, like the cat that caught the bird, as she summoned another arsenal of candles. Allen stared at the twins, who looked a little more than irritated over the situation. "This could get me-ssy~"

"This could be bad," he muttered. "I don't think this is going to work."

"We don't want to play your games, Road." Debitto said, his gaze focused on the candles.

"No games, hee!" Jasdero added. Road just shrugged in response to Allen.

"This just makes things more interesting." She smiled. Allen's gaze remained focused on the twins and, after a brief pause, Jasdero and Debitto both rushed down the hall.

"They're making a break for it." Allen said, stepping to the side so he didn't get trampled.

"No games, hee hee!" Road just blinked at the sudden change of events, a finger pressed to her lip thoughtfully.

"Oh…I didn't see this one coming…" She stated blankly. "Well, I guess they'll learn the hard way then." She said, flicking her finger forward and sending some of her candles at them while the rest hovered around her and Allen. Debitto rushed forward, growling in his throat as he felt the sharp tips of her candles graze his flesh.

"Well I bet you _really_ didn't see this one coming!"

"Didn't see it coming, hee!" Reaching out the black-haired Noah grabbed Allen by the arm, pulling him away from his spot beside Road inside her fortress of candles.

"Hey!" Allen exclaimed as he was pulled forward.

"Hey!" Road exclaimed, whipping around. "Get your dirty paws off my Allen!" She screeched. Pulling the boy with him Debitto turned to face Road.

"Might wanna put away the candles if you don't want anything to happen to 'your Allen'." This said he wrapped his arm around Allen's throat in a headlock, holding the boy pinned.

"I told you they were going to kill me," Allen said, finding it slightly difficult to breath due to Debitto's hold. Road glared death at them but huffed, waving to dismiss her candles reluctantly and crossed her arms, miffed at being 'defeated' twice in one day at her own game.

"Fine…now let him go…" She growled, secretly contemplating whether or not to maul them here and now.

"I can't believe you're actually going along with this…" Tyki said from the sidelines, sounding bored.

"Here ya go!" Releasing his grip on the boy's neck, Debitto shoved Allen toward Road. Allen stumbled forward slightly but managed to regain his balance before he fell on his face.

"I can't believe it either…" he muttered, his eyes locked on Road. After checking that Allen was unharmed, an Akuma maid appeared that had received orders through her mental link with them, unlocking a door where she ushered the boy in, promptly shut it, and locked it again before leaving to finish other duties while Road summoned her candles back, glaring almost murderously at the twins.

"You are both going to _DIE_."

* * *

**Authors Note:** Ne…I hope I did good writing for all the characters. Again, Cross is kinda hard to write about. The twins were the really hard ones to write for though. Luckily I had some help :3 I wanted to show the different sides of Road's personality, from her sadistic evil side to her soft, loving side(which is only ever really seen with her family). The Noah's are always very fun to write for 83 And I loved doing that as the ending. I wanted to throw some comedy in there instead of making the whole thing serious and honestly, originally trying to come up with a 'game' for Road to play beside either screwing with Allen's head and horribly scarring him or simply sending candles at him was hard to think up. I honestly don't know what sort of games she would play, especially with Lero, but this came to mind so here ya go!

Anyway, please **REVIEW!**

~Kou


	3. Training Begins

**Authors Note(Kougetsu):** Hello again! I know it has been FOREVER since I've updated, but thank you so much for all the reviews! Thanks go out to _P3paula_ for their review on chapter 1 and _Allen_the_Musician, lilanimefan247, KuroiWing, Jenaminya, Firehedgehog, Genis_Reigal_-_Element_Star, luvu, Mystjerne, Peculiar_Top_hat, TeenageNeko_is_2_lazy_2_login, Gothicgirl12, Zenophobia, _and_ P3paula_ for their reviews on chapter 2! Seriously, guys, 15 new reviews? You guys all rock! A few of you have also been asking questions about the story so I've decided that I will answer many of those here.

_**Questions from reviewers:**_

_KuroiWing asked if there will be any major OC's__._

_A: yes, there will, but they will not be the main focus, mind you. As D gray-man, the story will still focus mainly around cannon characters such as Allen, Lavi, Lenalee, Kanda, etc. though it will also focus somewhat on OC's, mainly their relationships and interactions with main cannon characters. You generally won't find many if ANY scene's focusing just on OC's. And no, this won't be a 'girl exorcist joins the Order, develops a crush on so-and-so main character and develop some love/crush relationship while the girl goes on about dreamy thoughts of how sexy her crush looks'. I'm sure if you wanted to read one of those, there are plenty other, overdone stories like that out there._

_Rin'negan_Naruto asked if Allen will gain the 14__th__'s powers during his training with the Noah's._

_A: Although it's not officially decided, he probably won't. Obviously, he will show signs of it at some later point, but for now, don't expect it all too soon._

_Orchanus asked three questions, (1)If Allen will be a Noah too, (2)When his arm changes, (3) Will he have the same relationship with Road as he did in the Manga._

_A: (1)Unfortunately for all you Noah Allen fans out there, I cannot say with any certainty that he will be, but most likely no. He will still be human and an accommodator/exorcist. (2)If by when it changes you mean 'when he gets "Crown Clown"', probably not for some time, though it's undecided as of now, but rest assured, he will get it at some point. (3)No, Allen's relationship won't be as tense or touchy with Road as it was in the Manga. Where they were enemies there, they are considered 'adoptive family' to each other here._

_Peculiar_Top_hat asked why Allen's hair is still brown when the curse was supposed to have turned it white._

_A: Although the curse was supposed to have turned Allen's hair white immediately, I wanted to have it change white a little later, though not too terribly. Rest assured, it will be coming up soon._

_Peculiar_Top_hat and Gothicgirl12 asked if the Earl will kill / try to kill Allen when he finds out Allen is the vessel of the 14__th__._

_A: Sad to say for those of you that really want to know, you'll just have to keep reading and find out, won't you?(I know, I'm horrible)_

**Disclaimer:** I do not, nor shall I ever own, D gray-man, unless otherwise clearly stated by the wonderful Katsura Hoshino! Capiche?

* * *

**Distortion  
A D Gray Man Fanfiction  
By: Hakuma_Twins  
Chapter by: Kougetsu_KitsuneHinote_Hakuma**

**Chapter 3: **Training begins

* * *

A good hour and a half passed, to which Road quite thoroughly hunted down the twins across the entire estate, the two screaming bloody murder all the while and being mauled in only God knows how many ways before Road came skipping back to the room in an even better mood than before, humming cheerfully as she had the doors unlocked and pranced into the room, beaming widely.

"I'm ba-ck, A~llen~!" She chimed musically. Allen, having been forced to find something to occupy his time since he was locked in the room, had seated himself at a piano that was located in one corner of the room. The boy had been trying his hand at playing some songs, and endeavor that had failed for the most part, and was now idly tapping at the keys, completely bored. He turned his head as he heard Road enter, calling out to him all too cheerfully.

And sounding as though she hadn't been out for blood…

"Are the twins even still alive?" He questioned, not sure why he even cared. Having been their hostage only a short while ago.

"Oh, don't worry. I didn't kill them. They still need to think about what they've done anyways." She said. There was admittedly something scary about the way she said it lacing her voice. "Tyki wanted me to tell you to be ready to start your training early tomorrow morning." At this point she pouted in disappointment. "And here I was, hoping I'd get you to myself a while longer…" She said, obviously unhappy about the whole thing. "But aside from that, are you hungry?"

"Starving!" Allen piped dreamily at the mere mention, immediately leaping from the piano stool and walking across the room to join her. "So um…this training with Tyki, should I be afraid for my life?"

'_Because if Tyki's anything like you I don't think I'll survive…'_ He silently added.

"Well that depends on what he has you do…I'd assume that he wouldn't start out with anything too hard at first though." She said, leading the way towards the dining hall with a bit of a spring in her step. She opened up the wooden doors and went to the table that was covered in a good amount of different foods like before.

After a few days, the Duke and the other Noah's had discovered Allen's truly gargantuan appetite, which Jasdero described as 'like a plague of locusts', and made sure to keep a good amount of food around since. That included preparing the food for whatever meals they were enjoying and any time the boy was hungry in between.

"Guess I'll find out tomorrow," Allen muttered. His mood brightened considerably the moment that he laid eyes on the food that was spread out on the table. The boy quickly sat in the same place that he had previously occupied. "This looks great…"

"Unfortunately the Duke won't be joining us at the moment, and the others aren't hungry, so it's just us for now." Road said, slightly disappointed at that, though the twins not coming was partially…okay _mostly_ her fault and this also meant she had Allen all to herself. Again.

"I have the feeling that the twins are going to be avoiding you for quite awhile," Allen commented dryly, his gaze briefly going to Road before returning to his food.

"As much as they can, at least." Road agreed sardonically, taking to licking at a large lollipop, instead of indulging in the other food. She had a rather small appetite, especially compared to Allen, but she loved candy incredibly, even more than dolls and other 'cute' things. When he first arrived, Allen would have questioned Road's choice of candy over food, but it was pretty much normal to him now. Wasting no time, the young boy helped himself, not so uptight since it was just him and Road at the moment. He was finished eating in record time, wiping his mouth clean with a napkin before looking back to her.

"So what are we going to do now?" He questioned.

"Mmm…" Road thought a moment, not really in the mood to play anymore 'games' for the day, having satisfied that idea with Allen earlier and then the twins. She brightened considerably and quickly hopped out of her chair as she abruptly pushed it back, scampering to Allen's side and latching her arms around one of his. "I know exactly what we can do!" She chirped happily, dragging him towards the door with barely enough time for him to escape his seat.

Allen quickly scrabbled up and followed along beside her, knowing that his arm was likely to be pulled out of its socket if he resisted or took any amount of time getting up.

"Mind telling me what has you so excited?" he asked as they left the room. "Or do I just have to wait and see?" He asked incredulously.

"You'll see~" She replied, flashing him a toothy smile as she proceeded to drag him down one of the long first story corridors.

"I don't think I like the sound of that…" Allen muttered as he continued to follow along. After a minute or two Road stopped at a door at the end of the hall that led outside, releasing Allen as she opened it and pranced ahead of him to a much smaller, shabbier building with a large, open doorway.

"Come on, Allen~!" She chimed before disappearing inside. Allen gazed at the building for a moment, thinking that it looked decidedly out of place, before he did as Road bid and followed her inside.

The first thing to come into sight was a fairly lavish carriage on the left side, while a mountain of hay stood at the right. A mellow whinny rose in the air for a moment and Allen's gaze instantly went to a trio of horses, their necks arched over their stall doors, idly flicking their ears or shifting their heads while Road stood petting the muzzle of an obsidian-gray Appaloosa.

The boy walked slowly toward a midnight black horse that stood in the stall beside the Appaloosa that Road was petting, a look of surprise on his face. Holding his hand palm up the boy reached out to the equine which, after a moment, rubbed his hand with its head. Turning toward Road, Allen offered the girl a genuine smile.

"I didn't know there were animals here." The boy had always been partial to animals; they were kinder than people.

"We keep them around as carriage horses, and since no one is using them right now, they're here resting. I love to come down and brush them when there's nothing else to do. They love it too." She said thoughtfully. "I always liked animals. They aren't corrupt or cruel like most sub-humans. Besides you and Mother, I mean. They say animals are incapable of sin, because they're God's most loyal, pure creatures."

"I've always liked animals too." Allen's voice was quiet, his thoughts briefly going to Mana's little dog. Reaching up, he gently rubbed the horse's forehead, enjoying the silky feel. "Because they don't judge." Road thoughtfully stroked the Appaloosa's mane in silence for a moment before turning to Allen with a much softer smile than most of her earlier ones. "When you get back from training with Tyki, we should teach you how to ride. Unless you already know how, that is…"

"I've never ridden a horse in my life." Allen said, still rubbing the black horses head. He turned to gaze at Road, the corners of his mouth twitching up into a smile. "But I think I'd like to learn." Road smiled before prancing to the wall parallel to the stalls, and managed to pick a metal bucket off one of the hanging hooks with some difficulty, partly because it was a little higher up than her shoulders, and hobbled back with it. The horses visibly perked as she scooped up a handful of oats and offered it to the appaloosa.

"Try feeding them some of these…" She said, giggling slightly as the horse quickly nibbled them up, tickling her hand. "They really like them." Following her lead, Allen scooped up a handful of oats, offering it to the black horse with a smile. The horse's ears flicked forward as it eagerly ate the oats that Allen was offering.

"That feels strange," Allen said with a giggle. Road nodded whole-heartedly in agreement, smiling broadly.

"I'll show you how to brush them."

* * *

They stayed for awhile, petting and brushing the horses and talking to each other, with a little bit of warning from Road not to give them too many oats because it was bad for them in the way that too much candy is bad for people, before Road noticed that it was nearly dark.

"We should probably go back inside. You still have to get up early to go with Tyki." She pouted, rocking idly on her heels. Allen's face fell but he nodded none the less.

"Alright." Giving the horses each one final pat, Allen turned back toward Road, immediately noticing her rather sullen appearance. "Cheer up. I'm sure we'll be able to play together after my training." At this point he offered her a smile. "And you said that you'd teach me how to ride. Don't forget that."

"I know, but it still won't be as fun with you gone." She pouted, walking back toward the mansion. "When you do get back though, we'll have to 'play' with Jasdero and Debitto again too." She added, smirking at the idea. After all, Allen would no doubt be more of a force to be reckoned with after he started to learn how to control his Innocence. "By the time you get back, they'd of all but forgotten about today." She snickered.

"Are you serious?" Allen asked as he walked along beside Road. A rather incredulous expression appeared on the boy's face as he gazed at his companion. "You're telling me that they're actually going to forget about what you did to them that quickly?" Allen shook his head and absently ran a hand through his hair. "That seems kinda hard to believe."

"Well, when we 'play' with them again they'll remember…but when you first get back they won't." She said slyly. Allen arched one eyebrow at that.

"You torment them on a regular basis, don't you?" There was no other way that she could know something like that with the certainty that she seemed to show.

"I don't 'torment' them, just have a little fun with them now and again." She whined, seeming slightly offended by that.

"I'm sorry," Allen said quickly, not having really meant to hurt her feelings.

'…_But I think the twins would argue otherwise.'_ He silently added, keeping that little thought to himself.

"It's okay." She responded instantly, latching onto his arm and walking with her face resting against him rather happily. "I could never stay upset when it comes to my little brother~" She purred rather affectionately. Allen couldn't help but notice, out of all the Noah, Road seemed to be the one who had accepted him the most. The others tended to treat him as a nuisance that must be put up with but Road actually seemed to enjoy his company. Sometimes a little too much.

"So," he began as they once again entered the mansion. "I noticed that your powers and the twins' are different…so exactly what kind of power does Tyki have?" He asked, because he wanted to get a sense of what he was going to have to deal with before his training session.

"Well, Tyki can pass through anything, except for what he _wants_ to touch. So…say you're an enemy. He could pass through your whole body like a ghost, but if he wanted to…say…rip out something like a lung or a heart, he could just touch that." She said without so much as blinking, as though she had just talked about something innocent and trivial. "Don't worry, though. You're not an enemy so he wouldn't do that to you." She added. Allen's face paled considerably at the mention of ripping out internal organs.

'_And this is the guy that's supposed to be training me…?'_ He thought to himself, sweating nervously and feeling his pulse rate quicken slightly.

"This is going to be hard, isn't it?" He asked critically.

"Possibly," was the only answer Road gave as she shrugged indifferently.

"Glad to see that you're concerned for the well-being of your 'little brother'," Allen muttered. "What if he accidentally kills me or something?"

"I wouldn't think that would happen." She said, thinking about it a moment. "Tyki has a good amount of self control after all. Now if it were the twins or Lulu Bell, maybe…plus Tyki knows to go a little easier till you get the hang of it." Shaking his head, Allen absently gazed down at his left arm.

"I don't even know how to make it work. So how exactly am I supposed to fight back?" Because when Road attacked him with her candles all he had been able to do was dodge and run as though his life depended on it. Which he was sure it did.

"Well, that's the first thing on the training list. I would assume, anyway…" She stated as they neared their rooms, Road passing up hers to accompany Allen. Allen merely sighed as he reached out and opened the door of his room.

"Guess there's nothing to do except to wait and see what happens…and hopefully I'll survive."

* * *

Tyki walked ahead of Allen down the road, not carrying much himself. It had been a while since they'd left the manor and they were approaching a train station that was in the distance.

"Hurry up, boy. We don't want to be late." Adjusting the bag that he was carrying over his shoulder, Allen jogged to catch up to Tyki.

"You do realize that I have a name, right? And that it isn't 'boy'."

"Of course I know. That doesn't require me to use it." Tyki replied, eyes set ahead of him.

"Of course not…" Allen sighed, tagging along at Tyki's heels. "So where are we going anyways?"

"We'll just see when we get there. This is for your training so I could change my mind depending on how you're progressing at any time." He stated simply, the pair arriving at the platform as the long, metal machine appeared in the distance with a loud billow while it spewed forth a cloud of black.

"Right." That wasn't really the answer that Allen was looking for but the boy was smart enough to realize that he wasn't going to get a better one from the man. Once again adjusting the bag that was slung over his shoulder, Alen came to stop at Tyki's side, watching as the train approached.

'_I just hope this guy isn't like Road,'_ he thought to himself as the metal contraption screeched to a halt. _'Not sure I can survive anyone else like that…'_ After all, he was going to be training with Tyki for at least a month…

_After a rather fitful night, Allen arose early. He'd spent most of the night tossing and turning and was thoroughly irritated by it._

"_I give up." He muttered, tossing the blanket aside. After quickly getting dressed Allen left his room, wondering if anyone else would be up at this hour. Stepping out into the hallway the boy gazed around, wandering to the stairs of the foyer that led down to the first floor. For the most part the house was quiet and empty, aside from the Akuma maids that were tirelessly taking care of the place as usual. And, Allen noticed, Tyki, who stood at the bottom of the stairs leaning his back against the railing, smoking a cigarette with a bored expression on his face. He idly tapped the cigarette end into an ash tray before blinking and looking up, noticing Allen on the second story for the first time._

"_I didn't expect you to wake up this early, boy." Allen shrugged as he made his way down the stairs._

"_Didn't sleep all that well." He said, making every effort to sound non-challant about the whole thing, and point blank refusing the reason _why_ he'd had trouble sleeping. "What about you? You always get up this early?"_

"_Not always." Tyki sighed. "But being caught in the crossfire between Road and those two is…well, stressful would be an understatement…" He said, taking another deep breath of his cigarette before exhaling. He'd mostly come down to quietly think to himself and take a stress reliever, a.k.a. his cigarettes, since Road and the twins wouldn't be up to interrupt his quiet time._

"_Did something happen?" Allen questioned, curiosity showing in his stormy hues. "I was sorta locked up for most of that fight." Tyki twitched slightly at the memory, sighing heavily._

"_I'd rather not explain…"_

"_Um…okay." Allen was silent for a couple of moments before he spoke again. "So, I'm supposed to train with you today, right?" Tyki nodded and directed him to his room._

"_Just get whatever necessities you think you'll need and then we'll go. If you can't carry it yourself, don't bring it." He instructed. Allen tilted his head slightly to the side._

"_What am I gonna need?"_

"_Just the essentials. Clothes, brushes, and whatever else you need to take care of yourself." Tyki replied patiently. This only served to further the boy's confusion._

"_Um…not to be rude or anything but…how long are we going to be gone?"_

"_Hm…couldn't say for sure…but if I had to guess, at least a month." He thought aloud._

"_A…month…?" Allen had expected for the answer to be a couple of days when Tyki informed him that he would need clothes but he was shocked to hear that they would be gone a minimum of a month. But he recovered from his surprise fairly quickly. "Just… give me a few minutes and I'll be ready." This said, the boy turned and dashed back up the stairs._

Once they boarded the train, having taken a private cabin, Tyki idly sat in thought as the train began to move.

"Better be ready to do some serious work, boy. This isn't going to be a walk in the park." He stated. "I'm not any happier with this arrangement then you probably are."

"I never thought it would be easy," Allen said, gazing at the Noah from his spot across the cabin. The boy hesitated at this point, debating whether or not to ask the question that was in his mind. It wasn't exactly the most mannerly thing to do but in the end Allen decided to ask it anyway. "And if you aren't happy about training me then why did you agree to it in the first place?"

"Because someone has to and it was Lord Millennium's wish that I be the one to do it. At least for now…" He stated simply. "Any more questions? Because I probably won't be answering very many after this."

"Exactly what kind of 'training' do you have in mind?" Allen posed this question cautiously, not even sure whether or not the Noah would answer. But he really wanted to know what was in store for him.

"Well since you need to use that arm and it seems to activate because of Akuma, we'll start with that." He stated simply. Although it didn't act up around the maids, he was hoping that Akuma that posed more of a threat to him would make it activate.

"Oh…um, okay." To be completely honest Allen was actually shocked that Tyki had decided to answer the question. And was slightly surprised that the man was going to have him fight with the Akuma. "…but won't that be kinda dangerous?" The boy involuntarily shuddered as he recalled the incident in the cemetery. With Mana.

"A bit…but right now it seems like the only way to get that arm to activate." Tyki replied.

"But what if I destroy the Akuma?" Allen pressed. "'Cause…'cause that's what happened before. I tried to stop it but I couldn't."

"Well it won't be too consequential if a few are destroyed, so long as you learn how to control it. After all, that's what we're aiming to do." Allen tilted his head slightly to the side as he gazed over at Tyki. The man looked completely unconcerned about the possible loss of Akuma.

"You…you mean you don't even care if they're destroyed?" Tyki sighed as Allen posed this question but the Earl had warned him to make it sound credible until they had completely won the boy over. While the boy certainly seemed to be loyal, they had to be completely sure and wait till his loyalty to their family became unbreakable. As though he was a Noah himself. So, he thought a moment for something that would satisfy his question.

"Soldiers must be sacrificed sometimes to win a war for the greater good. Besides, the Duke is constantly working on…recruiting…more Akuma." He said, pausing momentarily to find a more suitable and convincing word than 'creating'. "It's not as if we'll be running low on numbers any time soon." Allen thought about Tyki's words for a few moments, idly removing the white glove he was wearing so that he could stare at the little green gem that was imbedded in the back of his hand.

"Do you really think it'll work? Do you think I can learn to control this arm?"

"Not sure, but Duke Millennium seems to believe you will, and I have my orders." He stated, looking out the window with minimal interest.

"I'm sorry that you got stuck with me when you'd obviously rather not be bothered." The words were apologetic but the tone was decidedly irritated.

"Well if not this then Duke Millennium would've had me doing something else." Tyki sighed. With a sigh of his own, Allen placed his hands behind his head and gazed out the window. He was anxious about the training that was in store for him but talking to Tyki wasn't really helping to relieve any of that stress. In fact, the Noah was only making it worse with his non-challant attitude about the entire thing.

'_This is gonna be a long month,'_ he thought to himself.

* * *

Tyki walked ahead of Allen, the pair having made their way from the train station to a path that led into thick woodland, with a good, long stretch of wilderness and no towns or civilization for some distance.

"A word of caution, avoid any exorcists at all costs. They're fairly easy to recognize, since they always wear black with a rose cross on the left side of their coats. You _do_ know what a rose cross is, right, boy?" Following along behind his reluctant teacher, Allen tilted his head to the side at the mention of the rose cross. He knew that the answer he was about to give wasn't going to make Tyki happy but there was no way around it. He had to answer truthfully.

"Um…no." Tyki sighed slightly before thinking how to explain it.

"Well, it's about the same as a cross you see at church's, with a vague resemblance to a rose compass. The one's you see on maps and things that don't only show north, south, east, and west, but every direction in between as well. And they're either silver or gold, with silver, being for normal exorcists, and gold for Generals. Do you get that now, boy?" He said, hoping Allen would know what he was talking about. The boy touched his bottom lip with his right index finger, a thoughtful expression on his face.

"Yeah, I think I know pretty much what you're talking about."

"Good." Tyki uttered, glad that he didn't need to elaborate further. "Basically avoid them at all costs. If you do happen to come across any that discover the Innocence in your arm, tell them that you were with a man by the name of Marian Cross, and that you were supposed to be training, as he 'told you'. Then, lead them back toward me, so I can take care of them. The Akuma will help if it comes to that." He instructed, remembering the Duke's instructions just a few nights ago.

"But then they'd probably know already that it's a lie, wouldn't they? Isn't he part of the Order?" The boy questioned, confusion written in his gray eyes.

"No. From what we've heard, he's been missing from the Order for about a year now. But aside from that, on the off chance you come across an exorcist wearing a black and GOLD uniform, with long red hair and a white mask, it is imperative that you do not make any contact and retreat immediately." Allen stared at Tyki for a couple of minutes, taking in the information that he had been given. The description sounded vaguely familiar and he searched his memory before remembering why it was familiar.

"You mean the one I saw at the graveyard the night the Duke took me in? Is that this 'Cross' guy the one I'm supposed to tell other exorcists that I'm supposed to be training with?" he questioned, one eyebrow raised. "And why do I have to run away?"

"Yes. He's a very strong one, and troublesome for us. The Duke and I have almost no doubt that he'd try and…" He paused a moment, trying to find the right word. "…lead you astray. It would be very bad if that were to happen. He might try to take you away from us, basically. If on the subtle chance he discovers you, the Akuma will aid in your escape to return to me."

"Um, alright…I'll keep all this in mind." Allen was certain that Tyki didn't want to be bothered with him but was grateful none the less that the Noah seemed to be looking out for him. He didn't like the sounds of this Cross guy and resolved to do everything in his power to avoid a meeting with the man. Stopping, Tyki turned to his pupil, a slight expression of irritation on his face but he was otherwise exorcising his patience.

"From here on out you are going to have to learn how to control that arm. I'm going to head to the nearest town for a while, and you are going to train against a few of our weaker Akuma, as well as keep yourself alive and survive here. Finding food and shelter, and so forth are all going to be part of your training. I'll return to check on you in just a few days." He said bluntly. Allen's face visibly paled as he heard these words.

"You're leaving me alone?" he squeaked, hoping that he had heard wrong. Of course he'd been alone before and was fairly capable of taking care of himself, but there was also the fact that Tyki had said he would have to battle against the Akuma. Which he had no idea how to do. "But I don't even know how to make my arm work!"

"Well I'm not exactly an expert on how to make Innocence work either." Tyki retorted calmly. "Don't worry, I already ordered the Akuma to try not to kill you already."

"For some reason that doesn't exactly make me feel better," Allen muttered before clenching his hands into fists. Determination shone in his eyes as he gazed at Tyki somewhat defiantly. "Fine then. Go on. Either way I'll survive or die, not as though you care." Tyki smirked slightly at Allen's bold statement before shrugging his shoulders non-challantly.

"Maybe I don't." He replied before starting to walk away, several level one Akuma appearing a few moments later. "Good luck, boy."

"Good luck he says…" Allen muttered bitterly as he watched Tyki depart. His left eye had transformed the moment the Akuma had arrived and for a moment all the boy could do was stare. However, this was brought to an abrupt halt as the level ones began shooting at him. "This is insane!" the boy screamed as he dodged the bullets.

* * *

Allen had lost track of how many days had passed. The boy didn't think he had ever been so tired and all he had managed to do was run from the Akuma for a long time. Then, when he was finally too tired to run from them any longer, the boy was forced to face them. Allen just knew that he was going to die, since his arm still refused to work, but the moment that the Akuma fired their volley of bullets, the arm suddenly changed its shape. Just as it had done in the cemetery.

Allen managed to block the bullets that were being fired toward him. Then, the moment that there was an opening, the boy leapt forward. He would have destroyed the Akuma but they chose that moment to retreat. As he landed, the boy heard the sound of clapping and turned his head to see Tyki, the man choosing that moment to show himself as he stood with a cigarette idly hanging from his lips, a neat trail of smoke rising from it.

"Bravo. You actually got it to activate again." He said as the Akuma backed off. Allen fought to catch his breath as Tyki made his way to where Allen stood. There was a scowl on Allen's face directed at the man, whose timing was really bad. No words left his mouth however because the adrenaline was starting to dissipate and Allen felt a slight pain in his right arm. Gazing down, the kid saw that his arm had been grazed by one of the bullets. And the strangest thing was happening.

Black stars were beginning to appear on his skin.

"I don't think this is good," he muttered as he sank to his knees.

"Oh dear…" Tyki sighed as his gaze found the scratch, just before the stars started to appear. "That's the Akuma virus, which will ultimately disintegrate your body, unless you can somehow nullify it. And personally I have no idea how to do that." He said, taking the cigarette away from his lips and releasing a cloud of smoke rather calmly.

A burning pain seemed to spread across Allen's skin as he watched the little black stars multiplying. It didn't take long for his skin to turn completely black in color. The pain was intense, but just as he was sure he was about to die, the little green gem that was imbedded in the back of his hand began to glow. At the same time, the dark coloration seemed to recede into the pentacle-shaped scar that was above Allen's left eye. And the pain vanished along with it. Allen blinked a couple times, confusion clearly written on his face and in his stormy gray hues.

"What…just happened?" Tyki whistled slightly, a bit impressed. He was fairly sure that the boy was going to die, and he was going to have to report to the Duke that his 'experiment' was a failure, and no doubt suffer Road's wrath.

"Not entirely sure, but I think my best guess would have to be that your Innocence nullified the virus. Although…" He paused in thought, gazing at Allen for a long moment. "…it could have to do with that curse on your eye, too. Duke Millennium would probably have the most answers to that."

"Hmm…" Allen held a thoughtful look in his gray eyes for a brief moment before shakily getting to his feet. He would have to ask Duke Millennium if he knew what had happened when they returned from training. Assuming he didn't end up dead. As soon as he managed to stand he turned toward Tyki, the thoughtful expression replaced by one of defiance. "I survived." He stated dryly.

"Show me you can control that enough to destroy the Akuma and I'll take you to get something to eat and give you some time to recover." He stated simply, the Akuma hanging back while they talked, no doubt because of orders from Tyki. The mention of food was enough to make Allen steadier on his feet and a determined expression appeared once more in the boy's eyes. Holding up his left arm, which was still transformed, he nodded his head ever so slightly. The boy stood in the clearing, waiting for the inevitable attack. Once the boy seemed to be ready, the level ones gave a growl and advanced toward him.

The first Akuma to attack knocked Allen head over heels. The boy rolled across the ground but managed to block the bullets that the enemy was shooting at him. Jumping to his feet, Allen leapt through the air, almost as though something was controlling his movements. When he neared the Akuma, he slashed downward with the claws of his left arm. A split second passed and then the Akuma exploded.

Allen's eyes widened as he figured out how to destroy them and it wasn't long before the others fell in a similar fashion. Landing on the ground, Allen turned to face his teacher, fighting to catch his breath.

"How…was that?"

"Not bad at all." He commented, mildly impressed. Giving him a moment to recollect himself, Tyki discarded his stub of a cigarette and ground it out before turning down the path. "Come along, boy."

"'Allen'." The boy muttered as he rushed to catch up to Tyki. He was exhausted and his legs were still somewhat shaky but the promise of food was enough to give him the strength to follow along behind Tyki. At this point he would do almost anything for a decent meal. Because his survival in the forest had been just that: survival.

* * *

Leading the way, Tyki decided to have both of them ride the train to town rather than making Allen walk the whole way and, upon arrival, got the boy a little cleaned up from his many days spend running for his life in the woods, before finding a slightly nicer restaurant. Taking a seat, Tyki motioned for Allen to do the same as the waitress approached.

"Feel free to order whatever you like, as much as you like." He said. From what they'd seen at the mansion, Allen could put down quite a lot of food. Luckily their family had quite a lot of money for that little issue…

Allen placed the shoulder bag that he'd managed to grab on the floor beside the chair before he sat down. He watched as the waitress approached them and a small smile appeared on his face a he heard Tyki's words.

"Thank you." He said in a quiet voice. He was absolutely starving.

"Welcome." The waitress said, offering Tyki a smile. "What can I get for you gentleman today?" Allen ordered enough food to feed a small army, which the waitress wrote down on a little note pad with a somewhat shocked expression on her face. Then, once she'd taken the boy's order, the woman turned her gaze back to Tyki. "Um…anything for you, sir?"

"Just coffee and a quiche." He said. She jotted it down and turned toward the back room.

"I'll return shortly." She chimed. Once she was gone, Tyki turned toward Allen.

"So, what do you think of training, boy?" Leaning back in his chair, Allen's hand absently went to the small wound on his arm caused by the Akuma's bullet.

"I think that I'm lucky that I didn't die." He deadpanned, his gaze focused on Tyki. At that moment the boy's stomach decided to add its two cents to the conversation. Allen blushed slightly as his stomach growled loudly. He really wished that the waitress would hurry up. "And it's really hard to find anything to eat when you're running for your life." He added as a sort of explanation for the rather rude noises that his stomach was making.

"Well it should get easier as you start to get used to using that arm at least." Tyki pointed out coolly. "Until you get to be much better, we'll stick to just level ones."

"So…" Allen began somewhat cautiously. "…are you going to have the Akuma keep trying to kill me until I can fully control the Innocence?" Because to the boy it seemed like it could take a _very_ long time and could quite possibly result in his death.

"For now, unfortunately." He replied. "But it will only be for a few weeks this time around." Despite his attempt at comforting the boy, Allen simply fell forward, banging his head on the table miserably, causing Tyki to sweat-drop.

'_I knew he probably wouldn't take that news well…'_ He thought silently. It was a few moments later that the waitress arrived with their orders and lay them out on the table, and Allen perked up immediately.

"Here you go. If you need anything else, just ask." She said with a smile.

"Thank you." Tyki said politely as she went to leave. Allen also offered her a broad smile before picking up his silverware and began to eat. He was absolutely starving and had no desire whatsoever to wait any longer to get something in his stomach. Which was still loudly protesting the lack of food. Watching Allen scarf down his food, Tyki was still slightly surprised by how much he was able to put down, even more so when he'd gone without. Tyki inwardly sighed as he idly sipped at his coffee.

'_This is going to be a long month…'

* * *

_

**Authors Note(2):** So the first few days of training are finished! But Allen still has a long way to go. Once again, special thanks to _Allen_the_Musician_ for helping me out with this! And don't worry, I haven't forgotten about Cross or his letter, for those of you that mentioned it before. Also, Debitto's name is apparently supposed to be 'David' but I don't really like it as much as Debitto, so I'm leaving it as is XP.

Please leave a **REVIEW** for all my hard work!

~Kou


	4. The White side and Black side

**Authors Note:** Kou here, once again to bring you another great chapter! Well I noticed before I got someone saying that they wanted a longer chapter, and you'll never guess how long this chapter is.

TWENTY.

PAGES.

And it was the _best_ twenty frickin' pages to write, ever! –feels giddy- I never planned for it to be that long but with the planned content, that's how long it turned out to be. _KuroiWing_ asked back in Chapter 2 if there would be any major OC's, and I answered that there would be in my author's note last chapter. One of them is in this chapter, though some may not consider him a 'major' OC since he won't appear very often. You'll know him when you see him(or read about him, whatever…). _And_ you will finally get to see what Cross wrote in his letter this chapter! –throws confetti into the air-

Aside from that, though, thank you for sending me TEN more reviews this chapter, totaling it at thirty-seven reviews! You guys are amazing and _seriously_ make my day! Thanks go out to _lilanimefan247_, _dgm-mega_fan_, _p3paula_, _Erzazel_, _Orchamus_, _Peculiar_Top_hat_, _Allen_the_Musician_, _Jenaminya_, _Getsuga_Tensou_, and _MmMsRoK_ for their reviews!(If I forgot anyone please PM me at _Kougetsu_KitsuneHinote_Hakuma_ and I will fix it as soon as I can!). Now, onto reviewer questions!

_**Questions from reviewers:**_

_Erzazel asked if any of the other Noah's were going to be brought in soon._

_A: Yes, rest assured, they will be brought in, though I'm probably not going to write much on them except when it's necessary for plot. Road is seen often because it is necessary for actual plot-line, not JUST because I like her as a character._

**Disclaimer:** I do not own D Gray blah-blah-blah nor shall I ever because Katsura Hoshino-sensei holds the rights to it, not me, myself, nor I. How many times must we go over this?

* * *

**Distortion  
****A D Gray-Man Fanfiction  
****By: Hakuma Twins  
****Chapter by: Kougetsu_KitsuneHinote_Hakuma**

**Chapter 4: The White Side and Black Side**

* * *

"So, how is it down there this time of year?" A young Chinese male asked, holding a phone up to his ear. "Oh, you don't say? Sounds really lovely. Unfortunately Section Leader Reever has me trapped here so I stand no chance of seeing it myself…" He said, his voice something of a whine and his face falling in disappointment. Only a moment later he brightened again. "If you would, that would be fantastic~! Anything you get for me is the best present in the world!"

Reever grumbled somewhat impatiently as he stood in front of Komui's desk, a tall stack of papers held between both arms that reached higher then his head.

"Oh, don't ask me. I never know what I want until you get it for me. Your judgment is better than mine when it comes to souvenir's anyway. Mm-hm. Yeah? Alright. Well take care then, and be careful, Lenalee~!" He chimed merrily before hanging up. "I'm so lucky to be blessed with the best little sister in the world…" He sighed with a blissful gleam to his eyes. His moment was cut off as Reever dropped the stack of papers onto the table and the top half avalanched on top of him.

"These all need to be signed." He growled. Komui had been talking with her for over twenty minutes while Reever stood there with his stack of papers. It was only thanks to Lenalee that the man ever got off the phone to actually do his work.

"But I just finished the last pile!" Komui protested in a whiny voice.

"Well get used to it, there's always going to be another one!" Reever snapped. As usual they'd pulled more than one full all-nighter and the fact that they didn't have anyone around who made decent coffee put everyone a little more on edge and irritable. Add that to the fact that the last year and a half or so Komui had been there all he did was complain about the work and that left a _very_ irritable Section Leader on top of everything else.

Dejected, Komui lethargically went on with signing them one by one, not bothering to pick up and sort the scattered papers dropped on top of him.

"_Oi!_" A gruff voice barked after some time had passed. Komui lifted his head out of the flood of papers to see a Japanese male of about fifteen, with straight raven-black hair. Two longer pieces hung down to frame his face, reaching down to about his chin, with a tight ponytail in the back that was about the same length if not a couple inches shorter. He also had a look of something between boredom, annoyance, and indifference.

"Oh, welcome back, Kanda-kun!" Komui greeted, sitting bolt upright. "How did it go?"

"Fine." The boy named Kanda answered curtly, only answering because he knew Komui would persist until he did. Which would make his day that much more annoying. Pausing, he held up a round gold creature with bird wings and a long tail with a tuft at the end like a lions', holding it by the narrow part of its tail. "I found _this_ thing flying around outside the gates."

Komui blinked a few times, doubting his eyes for a second before waving his hand in dismissal.

"It's one of the Generals' golems. Just leave it here with me." Komui instructed. Without answering Kanda let the creature go and started towards the door.

"My General will bring the Innocence we retrieved here later." He tossed over his shoulder before exiting. Folding his hands in front of him, Komui eyed the little gold creature thoughtfully.

"Now what exactly would you be doing back here on your own, Timcanpy?" He asked aloud. The last time they'd seen General Cross had been a little over a half a year ago, with no word from him since, so Timcanpy's sudden reappearance was a surprise. Hopefully it was a sign that the General was still alive, instead of the alternative.

The golem opened its jaws and spat out an envelope in front of him. Blinking again, Komui undid the flap and pulled out a letter that was unevenly folded and the handwriting was sloppy at best. By the date on it Cross had sent it within the last month, though there was no indication as to where he sent it from. Obviously Cross was making sure not to reveal where he was, for whatever reason.

Adjusting his glasses he started to read it.

_Dear Komui,  
__I've found a boy who's an accommodator that I had planned to take into the Order. He's an unusual boy. However, complications have arisen and he may have been taken in by our enemy, the Earl. If a young boy with short brown hair and innocence shows up and you haven't heard anything else of it from me or he doesn't have Tim with him, beware. He may have been corrupted by the fatso. Don't bother writing back, I probably won't read it anyway.  
__~Cross_

Komui was grimly silent as he soaked in the warning on the letter. The Earl had captured an accommodator to his side? Furthermore, even if that were the case, why did Komui have the nagging feeling the letter seemed to hint at something more?

_He's an unusual boy._

Komui hummed in thought. That seemed a bit out of place for something Cross had written, almost as though there was something _particular_ about the boy that he knew about, something deeper than he'd mentioned. Timcanpy broke his train of thought as the golem fluttered its wings impatiently. He'd forgotten it was there for a moment.

"Thank you for delivering this letter, Timcanpy. I'm sure it'll be a great help to us." He said. Without waiting for Komui to think of anything, like keeping the golem there or stalling it so he could write back or organize a way to follow him, it took off down the hall toward the front gates, anxious to get back to its master.

* * *

Cross growled irritably as the man before him laughed raucously, clutching his sides and practically rolling on the ground. After a long moment, the man in front of him calmed himself, for the most part, wiping a tear away from his eye.

"So you lost him, have you?" He said, the remnants of laughter in his voice.

"It's not funny!" Cross snarled. The man before him was generally scruffy. Unkempt dirty blond hair hung down over his eyes and overshadowed them, hiding them from view, with small blond facial hairs along his chin below his lower lip and along his jaw-line.

A long black dress-shirt similar to his uniform, in black with white lines, hung over a plain white sleeveless shirt. The sleeves seemed to have been ripped off of the black dress-shirt while the bottom and sleeves were tattered. He was lean, almost what one could call scrawny as far as weight went, but he still had some visible muscle, which was most apparent along his bare arms.

"Awe, you know I can't help myself Marian. So, what's your score with the Big Olive this time around? I mean, your score is still zero, of course, but I wonder how many points _he's_ got against you." Cross snarled angrily and grabbed the scruffy man by his collar, pulling him closer. "Whoa! Easy there, buddy! I kid, I kid!" The blond man tried to calm, holding his hands up in defeat.

"Just shut up about the whole thing! I'll figure this out one way or another." He vowed, more to himself then the man before him as he let him go again. "Damnit…I need a smoke. You have a light on you?"

"Of course not! That's a bad influence on kids, and I got one of my own now, y'know." He replied indignantly. Cross sighed bitterly.

"Don't you even have a match or something?" The blond thought for a moment with his head tilted before conceding.

"We-ll…alright…but just this once." He said.

'_I'm going to have to explain the smell on my clothes though…'_ He mentally sighed, digging around in his bag for a moment and muttering to himself, he came out with a match and handed it over to the impatient red-head, watching silently as he lit a fresh cigarette. Cross took a deep breath before exhaling in a sigh.

"Matthius, you're a life saver…" He muttered.

"Well technically cigarette's will kill you so that's not very accurate." Matthius replied snidely.

"Just shut up and get this thing started already, would ya?" Cross growled. Matthius merely shrugged and produced a deck of cards.

"You asked for it." He shrugged, deciding not t o argue. It was Cross' money after all. Setting them up, the two squared off with their hand of cards.

"Speaking of, how is that brat of yours coming along?" Cross asked idly, playing a card down.

"Not bad. He seems to be taking all I've told him pretty well. I hardly have to even mention how he should use his abilities. The boy's got a heart of gold, y'know. It'd make any proud parent…well…proud! …not that you'd know what that feels like." He added teasingly. Cross merely grunted at that. "So how exactly do you plan on finding this boy anyway? It's not as if we really know anything about their daily lives on the White Side." Matthius reminded.

"I'll find a way, just wait and see." Cross growled. "I doubt the fatso even realizes who that boy really is or how much of a threat he truly poses." He paused to pull his cigarette away and exhale a cloud of smoke. "God granted, it'll be too late by the time he realizes and I get him back."

"It's not like you to bring any kind of 'God' into the equation." Matthius noted as he played his hand. Cross didn't reply. "But besides that, even if he finds out, he might not kill the boy. After all, what kind of person enjoys killing their brother? Especially twice."

"The kind that only cares about destroying the world?" Cross growled with a hint of annoyance, laying down a card.

"Point taken, but there's no guarantee." Matthius said pointedly.

"And what about you? Shouldn't you be getting back to _your_ boy?" Cross sniffed.

"He'll be fine. He's quite smart and resourceful, and besides, he told me he didn't have a problem waiting a while for me." Matthius shrugged. "Besides…" He paused a moment, his voice dropping to a serious note before taking on a lighter tone. It reminded him of that annoying pitch Komui's voice took on when he suddenly got some sort of insane and idiotic idea in his head, like the one involving that strange thing he called a 'robot' that one time. Cross would never forgive him for that incident. "…the longer I wait to go back, the bigger of a hug I'll get when I return!" Matthius piped.

'…_and he calls _me_ a bad role model…'_ Cross sweat-dropped silently. Not that Cross was anything of a real role-model but this thought would never cross the man's mind in a million years. It was one of both the advantages and disadvantages to being Cross.

"Anyway, just keep in contact. I'll do a bit of digging around for you if you like. It's not too far out of the way of what I'm doing anyway."

"Speaking of, you never told me exactly what that is."

"What _what_ is?" Matthius asked slyly.

"What it is that you're doing!" Cross snapped, in no mood for mind games.

"That's~ for me~ to know~ and you~ to find out~." Matthius rang in a sing-song voice before laying down another card. "I win~!" He chimed.

"God, you piss me off…" Cross muttered.

"So how about another round?" Matthius challenged smugly.

"Fine, deal the cards." Matthius merely smirked more as he began to deal the cards.

'_Really now, when will you learn?'_

* * *

The white-haired youth followed along behind his teacher, slightly amazed that he had actually survived training with Tyki.

'_I'm amazed that didn't kill me…'_ he thought to himself, wryly rubbing his left arm. His entire body was aching due to the physical exertion bit at least now he could consciously transform his arm. They'd been training for an entire month, not including the time traveling between places and it had been about a month and a half since he'd been back at the manor. He couldn't have been happier to see the enormous building and could barely wait to flop down on his bed and sleep the days away. Because he was fairly certain he damn well deserved it.

Tyki approached the manor and made his way up the stairs to the door, using the metal knocker to announce their arrival. It was only a few seconds before the door swung open and Road excitedly went to pounce on the boy affectionately.

"A~llen~!" She purred before gasping in surprise. "What happened to your hair? It turned colors!" She exclaimed, remembering it had been brown the last she'd seen him and now it was almost white with blondish-brown remnants of its previous color, mostly near the roots. Allen merely shrugged, not even having the energy to pry her arms off him. He merely stood there and allowed her to hug him, wincing slightly owing to his rather sore muscles.

"It just kinda grew in that way. I don't know what happened." His gaze shifted to Tyki, who seemed to be completely ignoring this little reunion. "I blame Tyki." He deadpanned. Road immediately turned a glare to Tyki and punched him in the side. Hard.

"I _told_ you to be gentle with my Allen!" She snapped as Tyki nearly crumpled to the ground, placing a hand against the wall for support as he clutched his side with the other.

"…well if you have a…problem…with it…take it up with Duke Millennium…" He wheezed painfully. "…I'm only following his orders…" Allen actually had to hide a smirk behind his hand.

Road just pouted at him disapprovingly and turned back to Allen, seizing him by the arm and pulling him inside more gently than usual.

'_Serves him right.'_ The boy thought to himself as he allowed Road to lead him back into the manor. He was glad to be back, the familiar sights offering him a sort of comfort.

Even though he was fairly sure that Road would revert to torturing him again fairly soon.

"It's good to be back," the boy said in a quiet voice, mostly to himself. If Road heard him, she didn't respond. Leading him up to his room, Road let him go so he could settle in and circled around his bed, flopping on the edge of it.

"I really missed you while you were gone. The house felt a lot more empty without you here." She pouted, thinking back. The twins had generally been avoiding her like the plague when they weren't away on missions, and the Duke had often taken Lero with him, so she'd had next to nothing to do and no one to keep her company but the animals, and her parents when she saw them for a short time. Though she kept these bits of information to herself.

Completely ignoring the fact that his clothes were somewhat dirty and tattered, Allen threw himself onto the bed, once again enjoying its softness.

"I missed being here," Allen admitted as Road finished. He noticed there was something slightly different in her eyes, something akin to loneliness.

'_Was I really missed _that _much?'_ He wondered. He didn't take Road as a very sentimental type, though now he wasn't entirely sure.

"And I was beginning to think that I might not survive the training long enough to be able to return." At this point he rolled onto his back and held up his hand, his gaze locked on the back of it and the little green cross. "But I learned to control it."

"Well that's good. And at least it wasn't Jasdero and Debitto in charge of training you." She pointed out as she idly toyed with his short, silver hair, somewhat fascinated by its new coloration.

"That could have been bad," Allen conceded, trying not to think of what the two of them would have put him through. "I imagine they would have enjoyed it though. A chance to get a little payback." The boy paused at this point, tilting his head slightly to one side. "Is my hair really that interesting?"

"I've never seen anyone with such lovely silver hair before." She answered, her gaze looking at it almost lovingly, twirling a lock of it around one finger. "Plus everyone else with silver or gray hair is all old and wrinkly…" She grimaced slightly as if imagining a haggard, old wrinkled person with it instead. Allen shrugged, not really thrilled with the color change.

"It's just another thing to make me weird." He paused at this point. "Like I wasn't strange enough already."

"But I like your hair now. It's so pretty." She countered with a slight pout, running her fingers through it. Allen smirked as he heard the slightly petulant tone of her voice.

"Well it's not as though you have to worry about me changing it or anything. I'm pretty sure that I'm stuck this way."

At this point, Allen heard the sounds of something crashing out in the hallway.

"What was that?" He questioned, sliding from the bed and making his way over to the door. Road smirked as she followed him.

"An extra day of games says its Jasdero and Debitto~!" She purred, peering around the door.

"I'd be a fool to take that bet," Allen commented as he peered out into the hallway. The boy's gaze shifted and he soon spied the twins, laying in a heap at the end of the hallway.

"What do you suppose happened to them?" he questioned, turning to gaze at Road.

"Hm…not sure." She deadpanned, putting a finger to her lip in thought. It was very unusual to find them like that. There was no chance it was an Akuma; they all followed the Noah's orders and didn't dare ever attack any of them. Tyki or Sheryl, her father, wouldn't have been the cause, and Lulu Bell was only God knows where.

Perhaps they had done something to anger the Duke, but it didn't seem likely. Could an enemy, such as an exorcist possibly be the cause? How likely was it that one would actually discover this place and come after them? Highly unlikely, almost impossible in fact. None of them knew the Noah's called this place home and most didn't even know the Noah's existed.

Countless ages and many past experiences had taught her great caution however, despite that she herself wasn't in much danger of pretty much any exorcist, and pretty much all the Noah's were like super-humans compared to those lowly sub-humans. Not to mention, Allen was here, and he wasn't nearly as durable as any of them, and the possibility still stood that the man Cross Marian could come after the boy and take him away. Had he perhaps seen and recognized the boy somewhere when he was with Tyki and followed them here?

Narrowing her eyes slightly, she cautiously took the lead to investigate. Leaving his room, Allen followed behind Road. The twins were lying fairly still, which was uncharacteristic for them, and Allen once again found himself wondering what had happened.

Hearing footsteps, Debitto suddenly raised his head, his eyes widening as they fell upon Road.

"NO! Not another game!" With this shout the black haired boy began to detangle himself from Jasdero.

"Not another game, hee hee!" the blond piped up, not making things easy for Debitto. Road tilted her head at them slightly, hands clasped behind her back innocently. If they were going on about her 'games', obviously they weren't being invaded. At least not as far as they knew, but she wasn't completely disregarding the possibility just yet.

"Why are you on the floor?" She ventured curiously, completely innocent.

"That's none of your business!" Debitto snapped, finally managing to detangle himself from his brother. Both of the twins quickly got to their feet and backed away from Road. They weren't fooled by the innocent routine and knew that she was most likely plotting something very unpleasant to do to them. Road pouted disapprovingly.

"Fine then." She snorted, flicking a finger upwards and summoning her spiked candles. One thing it seemed the twins had yet to learn was the road didn't take 'no' very well besides when it came from only a few individuals, like the Duke, Sheryl, or her mother for instance. "You have three seconds to spill it."

"Let's get out of here!" Debitto shouted, dashing over the railing and jumping over the edge.

"Get out, get out, hee!" Jasdero chimed before following along behind the dark-haired boy. Road growled in her throat with narrowed eyes, candles still hovering at the ready. A few of them had sailed after the twins but missed as the two made their escape.

"Wow," Allen said as he watched them jump. He knew enough about the Noah to know the chance of them actually being hurt by that were slim so he wasn't concerned. "They really didn't want to answer that question."

"I say we do a little hunting." Road growled. She did not like being left in the dark about things, least of all by Jasdero and Debitto. Allen shrugged, knowing that she'd do it whether or not he said yes.

"Whatever you say." Taking the lead with a determined look, Road descended the stairs in the direction the twins had taken, some of her candles still floating around her, keeping her eyes alert for any sign of them.

* * *

Allen followed along behind Road as she led the search for the twins. The two of them made their way down one of the many corridors and Allen was annoyed to find himself once again grabbed from behind.

"Back off or we'll really hurt the little bastard this time!" Debitto threatened. Still tired from training and annoyed at this action, since he hadn't technically done anything, Allen clenched his hands into fists. His thoughts shifted to his left arm which immediately transformed. Debitto jumped back in surprise, wide eyes focused on the boy.

"Doesn't~ look~ like~ it~" Road chimed in a sing-song voice, grinning as her candles were poised to rain down on the two. "Now tell me what you were doing or you'll be Noah Swiss Cheese in about five seconds." She threatened in return, her voice rather serious.

"We weren't _doing_ anything." Debitto said, his voice rather annoyed as he gazed at his 'sister' and her menacing candles. "I tripped over Jasdero if you must know." Allen thought that he saw the faintest hint of an embarrassed blush through the thick makeup that the dark-haired boy was wearing.

"Tripped, hee hee!" Jasdero added, his hands covering his head as though anticipating the attack. Road looked at them for a long time as if contemplating the legitimacy of the story and whether or not to skewer them alive. Not so much for the initial tripping and running away, but mostly because they'd had the audacity to threaten _her_ Allen. _Again_.

After a long moment of silence she huffed and reluctantly dismissed her candles. It would be a great stress reliever but she would've preferred spending time relaxing with Allen then chasing those two down.

"Fine. Go." She barked, waving them away with one hand.

They didn't need to be told twice. Jumping to their feet the twins made a hasty retreat before Road could decide they really did need to become Noah Swiss Cheese.

"Well that was exciting." Allen commented as he deactivated his arm. He was grateful that he'd finally learned to control it because for awhile he had been unable to make it go back to 'normal' after activating it. But now he seemed to have the hang of it.

"Oh, don't worry, we'll have fun with them yet." Road purred with a roguish grin after the two had departed, and now threatening her Allen wouldn't be so easy.

After a moment she latched her arms around his and led him back to the room for some much desired quality time with her 'little brother'. Shortly after arriving a pair of Akuma maids appeared, once pushing a cart stacked with food, the other setting up a table stand at the edge of the bed. Allen's eyes lit up as he watched the Akuma maids place out a feast for them. He was still tired from his month of training with Tyki but the food was a welcome sight. He always welcomed food.

"I thought you might want to stay in your room and relax rather than walk down to the dining hall." Road explained with a shrug, seating herself on one edge of the bed. Having Akuma maids was pretty convenient for things like this.

"Thank you, Road." He said, offering her a smile. She simply shrugged again, though she was more than satisfied with Allen's appreciation. Tilting her head slightly as she gazed fondly at him, she sat back slightly on the bed, holding herself up with her arms leisurely.

"So how was the training?" She asked curiously. A shadow passed over the boy's gray eyes as he thought back to those hellish days in the forest.

"I thought I was going to die." He answered honestly, shaking his head to rid himself of the memories. "I spent most of the first several days just running for my life because this damn arm refused to do anything."

"Mm." She looked at him with slight sympathy, though she knew it was something that had to be done if Allen was going to put his arm to use for them. "Well you survived and you're back." She stated, rather glad for that fact. Scooting across the bed she leaned over and placed a small kiss on his cheek. "Welcome home, Allen."

Stunned by the action, Allen was speechless. He slowly raised a hand and touched the cheek that she had kissed, a slight blush rising to color his face.

"Um….thanks" Road merely smiled at him warmly, a display that had been fairly rare if not non-existent before, with a slight giggle.

* * *

Things had settled down some since Allen's return to the manor and the boy was enjoying the normalcy, after his month spent just trying to survive. Awaking early the boy dressed in black trousers and a white button up shirt. Then he pulled on his shoes and grabbed his black vest before leaving the room. He still didn't bother with a bowtie, because he still didn't know how to tie the thing. Stepping out into the corridor, Allen saw a couple of Akuma maids but no one else. He was accustomed to them at this point so he paid no attention to the change in his left eye.

'_I wonder where everyone is…'_ he thought to himself as he made his way down the stairs.

* * *

Road had risen a bit earlier than Allen and heard from the Duke and Tyki that her mother and father would be arriving again some time later today. She had dressed in a somewhat longer, dressier skirt than usual and more frilled top with lace around the collar and down the front. Her hair – that was normally spiky and wild, let to do whatever it naturally wanted to do – was now straightened more and brushed flat, a ribbon tied in her hair. The stigmata's that usually crossed her forehead were absent, her abnormally gray skin a regular, pale color and tawny golden eyes had turned a darker brownish color.

As soon as she'd dressed herself up she had gone to find someone to play with and currently looked around each nook and cranny vigilantly, arms behind her back as she searched the den. Her quarry appeared out from behind a large arm chair before creeping carefully toward the door. After a moment she noticed and brightened.

"There you are~!" She chimed in a sing-song voice, skipping toward them. The unfortunate victim jumped and sped toward the door.

"No, no! Lero!" The umbrella cried, making it out to the foyer before she got it by the handle. "Lero is not a toy! Lero!" After a moment Road noticed Allen and brightened significantly, skipping toward him and glomping him in her usual affectionate fashion.

"A~llen~! Good morning!"

" 'Morning, Road," Allen said, giving her a somewhat awkward, one armed hug. The boy's gaze surveyed her outfit and he noticed that it was more formal than her usual attire. And her hair was different as well. This seemed kind of strange to him and a questioning look appeared in his gray orbs. "Why so dressed up?" The boy questioned as he released his grip on her and took a step back. "Is today special or something?"

"Mother and Father are coming later today." She answered simply.

"Let Lero go, Lero!" The parasol cried, which Road quite easily and readily ignored.

"Oh." Allen said, nodding his head. Road had spoken of her parents but the white-haired boy had never met them. "Road," he began somewhat hesitantly. "Why do you stay here if your parents live somewhere else?" That seemed slightly odd to the boy.

"We-ll…" She was thoughtful for a brief moment. "Since I'm a Noah that means I need to help Lord Millennium, but besides that, my mother is pretty weak and sickly, so she has to rest a lot and can't travel much." She shrugged. "Besides, I don't always stay here. I stayed at their house for a while when you were away."

Allen tilted his head slightly to the side for a moment before nodding. "Makes sense I suppose." At this point the boy shrugged his shoulders before offering her a smile. "So," he said, knowing that he was about to make her day. "What shall we do until your parents arrive?" She placed a finger to her lip and hummed in thought while Lero wriggled to escape.

"RE. LEASE. LERO! Lero!" The parasol shrieked before successfully escaping and flying away at break-neck speed. Road merely watched before turning back to Allen.

"Ah! We should go see the horses!" She exclaimed, remembering that Allen wanted to learn to ride. This suggestion brought a smile to the young boy's face and he abruptly seized Road by the hand.

"Come on!" Somewhat surprised by the direct and sudden motion, Road gave a startled squeak and stumbled after him, recovering after a moment and willingly followed briskly. She found herself smiling despite herself. Allen actually remembered the way to the stable, surprisingly enough, and for once he was the one pulling Road along. When the two reached the building he opened the door, holding it for her.

"Thank you." She said, partly out of habit as he held the door open and she slipped past him, the horses curiously perking as they entered.

"You're welcome," Allen said quietly as he entered the building behind her. Road pranced to the stall with the white horse, stroking its muzzle. Allen came to stand between the stalls of the black and gray horses, reaching out a hand to each of them. The horses sniffed his hands briefly before nuzzling his open palms, as though searching for a treat.

"I didn't bring you anything." Allen said as the black horse nudged his hand slightly more forcefully.

"The gray one is easier to ride then the black one." Road pointed out as she petted the white mare. Stopping in her attention-giving Road skipped to the wall that held the horse tack and slid one of the halters and reins off its hanger and returned to the white mare.

"Do you know how to put one of these on?" She asked, holding it up. Reaching up, Allen rubbed at the back of his head with his right hand before shaking his head.

"No." He replied, looking slightly embarrassed over the fact that he was so clueless. Road motioned for Allen to come closer before opening the stall, walking closer to the horse and slipping the halter over its head with the reins, coaxing the bit into its teeth.

"Like this." She showed him. "And careful. Sometimes they'll try to bite when you get the bit in their mouth." She said. Walking over to the wall where the horse tack was kept, Allen picked up one of the halters and made his way tentatively over to the gray horse. He let himself into the stall, speaking gently to the horse as he coaxed the bit into its mouth. It took a few moments of patience but he managed to get the halter on the animal. He turned back to Road with a small smile.

Road smiled in return before leading the white mare out of the stable. As she did a pair of Akuma maids appearing, walking up to the stalls. One went to the stall of the white mare and pulled a saddle from it. In the meantime Road flung a saddle blanket over the horses back, adjusting it and letting the Akuma maid take care of the saddle, partly since she was fairly short.

Taking the reins and continuing to speak gently to it, Allen led the gray horse from the stall. Not sure of what to do, the boy merely stood there, since he wasn't really tall enough to saddle the horse on his own even if he had known what he was doing. Once they had taken care of Road's horse the pair of Akuma maids did the same for Allen's and in no time both animals were saddled and ready to go.

"Come on." Road piped, leading her horse by the reins out of the stable. "We have to walk them first so we can tighten the saddles."

"Um…alright." Allen didn't even have to coax his horse along. The moment that Road led the white mare from the stable the gray horse followed suit, practically pulling Allen along.

After walking the horses, though Allen's horse seemed more like it was walking him, Road showed him how to tighten the buckle on the underside of the saddle.

"When you try to saddle them they suck in air sometimes because they think the saddle is uncomfortable, and you have to walk them so they have to exhale to catch their breath, and when they do you tighten it…" She paused to demonstrate. "…like this. Otherwise the saddle ends up flipping over while you ride and you'll end up upside down."

"Alright." Allen said with a nod, following her instructions and tightening the horse's saddle. "Anything else I should know?" he questioned once this task was complete.

"Well for one, don't kick the horse getting on. It'll start running before you're in the saddle." She warned, using the fence they were beside to get up herself. "Oh, and don't kick its sides and pull back on the reins at the same time. You'll get bucked off."

"I'll keep that in mind," Allen said as he clamored up into the saddle of his own horse. The gray snorted and side stepped but didn't react further as Allen settled himself into the saddle, taking up the reins in both hands. Gazing around the boy felt a momentary jolt of fear, thinking that it would hurt to fall from this height. This was soon replaced by exhilaration however as his horse took it upon himself to move, going directly into a trot.

Road gave her horse a light kick to its side and it took that as its incentive to trot after. Road spied the look on Allen's face and laughed slightly in amusement.

"What do you think of it so far?" She ventured with curiosity, her voice holding a note of laughter.

Glancing over his shoulder Allen gazed at Road, a genuine smile gracing his lips. This was a rarity for a child whose life had been filled with pain and disappointment and Allen actually laughed out loud as he urged his horse to go faster. The horse obligingly shifted to a canter and Allen called out, "This is great!" Road grinned widely as she urged her horse to keep pace.

"Wanna race?" She asked. "Bet you I'd win~." Allen nodded his head without much thought, gripping the reins. He wasn't certain that he was experienced enough to beat her but he was more than willing to give it a try. "Alright, I'll race you. Where to?" Road thought a moment.

"Down the field to that line of trees…" She said, pointing to a neat row of sycamores ahead. "…then to the front gates." She said. After she had announced their path she gave her horse a slightly more firm kick and set it into a run across the grass.

Leaning low against the neck of his own horse, Allen gripped the reins and grabbed a handful of the horse's mane for added support. Then he urged the animal forward. The gray horse needed no further encouragement, instantly breaking into a run. The smile on Allen's face widened as he felt the wind whipping through his white hair.

"This is amazing!" He exclaimed. "I don't even care which one of us wins."

Road grinned over her shoulder, her horse keeping just a little ways ahead of his.

"Then how 'bout we raise the stakes?" She tossed back. "Winner gets to choose what we do for a _whole_ day~"

"You choose ninety percent of the time anyway," Allen retorted, urging his horse to increase speed yet again. The gray stallion obliged, passing the white mare. Allen grinned at his companion as his horse sailed past and called out, "But if that's the way you want to play then its fine by me."

This said, Allen turned his attention back to the line of trees that was their first destination. Road merely grinned in return and gave her horse the sign to speed up, the mare's nostrils flaring in the wind as she rode up behind the gray stallion, the sound of the two horses' hooves audible in the mid-morning air. It was a short while before the two were racing neck-and-neck across the field, snorting and huffing. The wind whipped by Road's face, the small Noah girl smiling widely in excitement as they approached the row of trees.

"Come on." Allen encouraged, the gray horse managing to pass the white mare ridden by Road. "You can do it." It wasn't much of a lead but Allen was slightly ahead as they reached the line of trees. Still clutching the horse's mane Allen whirled the animal around and pointed him in the direction of the front gate.

Turning her horse around in a semi-wide turn, kicking its sides lightly to make it speed up, the mare slowly inched up alongside Allen's gray equine as they turned and tore back up toward the mansion gates.

'_I don't wanna lose.'_ Allen thought to himself as he urged his stallion to increase its speed yet again. _'…because-'_

This thought was interrupted as something shot across the horse's path, causing the stallion to rear up on his back legs. Barely managing to remain in the saddle, Allen grasped the horse's mane in a death grip as the animal took off. The mare blew past Allen's mount as it reared up but the lead was short-lived as the gray horse quickly caught up and raced by.

"Wait! I don't wanna win like this!" Hearing Allen's proclamation, Road cackled in amusement as she egged her horse to keep pace, the white mare managing to stay only a few bounds behind.

"You can always quit!" She jibed slyly.

"No," Allen yelled as the stallion gave a little buck before steadying into a fast run again. "I really don't think I can!" The white-haired boy maintained his death grip, hoping that the gray would come to a halt when they reached the front gate, assuming he managed to hold on that long.

Road grinned and gave her horse a last effort kick to tell it to go faster as the two galloped up the field and around the house. A carriage was pulling up around an outside stone fountain and came to a halt a little further back than it's intended stop to allow both horses to charge past, with Allen's gray three long paces ahead.

"Oh, _pooey_, I lost…" She huffed disappointedly as she started to pull back on the reins to make her horse come to a stop. Allen's horse didn't seem to realize that the race was over and the white haired boy managed to pull back on the reins, causing the stallion to prance around in a circle for several moments before finally coming to a stop.

The boy slumped in the saddle for a moment, heaving a sigh. "Can't believe I survived that…but I won!" This said he turned to Road with a triumphant gleam in his gray eyes.

"Yes, yes, you won." Road conceded, swinging around in the saddle and sliding off. "Now hurry. Mother and Father are here." She said, prancing toward the carriage as it stopped in front of the mansion doors. She left the white horse and, seeing as the race was over and it seemed temporarily forgotten, it snorted and gazed around idly.

Feeling somewhat out of place, Allen slid from the stallion's back but didn't go any further. He wasn't exactly sure what to do and didn't want to intrude upon Road's time with her family.

A man stepped out of the carriage. He looked somewhat similar to Tyki, though a bit taller and with a more square and narrow face, his cheekbones more pronounced and his hair a bit longer. He was wearing a black tuxedo and a monocle over his right eye. He was followed by a gaunt woman with her hair tied up in a bun and a humble but still elegant dress.

"Father!" Road cried, glomping him. A look of delight crossed the man's face as he held her up and spun her around. Pretty much the opposite of what one would expect by his appearance.

"Hello, Road, my darling~!" He stopped and set her down before his gaze traveled to Allen.

"Oh? And who is this?" Allen hesitated for a moment, still uncertain of what he should do, before stepping forward and offering the man a polite bow.

"My name is Allen Walker, sir." He introduced himself, using the manners that Mana had worked so hard to teach him.

"Oh~, such a handsome young boy. As well as polite." The man noted aloud. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Allen Walker. I am Sheryl Kamelot, and this is my wife, Tricia." He said, turning to the woman just behind him who offered him somewhat of a curtsy. "So that means you must be the boy that Duke Millennium took in. Road has told me a lot about you."

Allen offered the woman named Tricia a bow before nodding his head at Sheryl's words.

"He was kind enough to offer me a home when I had no where else to go." The boy said in a quiet voice.

"Are you an orphan, then?" Tricia asked, a sympathetic look on her face. Allen nodded his head affirmatively.

"I lost my father a short time ago."

"I see. I am terribly sorry for your loss at so young an age." She said humbly in the hopes it might bring some sense of comfort. Allen offered her a smile as he moved to stand beside Road.

"Thank you for your kind words. It's not so bad though. Don't get me wrong, I still miss him very much, but its fun here."

'_Most of the time.'_ He silently added, thinking of some of Road's rougher 'games'.

"Well that's very brave of you." Tricia said thoughtfully.

"Well, let us not stay out here a minute longer, my dear. Shall we?" He said, Sheryl and Tricia heading towards the mansion's double doors. Road snagged Allen around the arm and half-dragged him after them.

"Come on, Allen!" She chimed, seeming to be in a rather bright mood. Or at least brighter than usual. Not really having much choice in the matter, since she had already seized him by the arm, Allen followed along willingly enough. He quickened his pace so that Road wouldn't be dragging him, walking alongside her.

Sheryl escorted Tricia up the stairs to the front double doors, the two pausing and letting Road saunter past while, still, dragging Allen by the arm. Keeping one arm still looped around her 'younger brother', she flung the doors open and pulled the boy inside before whipping around and holding the door open.

"Thank you, Road." Tricia said gratefully as they stepped inside and the Noah girl let the polished hardwood doors close before turning back. A man of a somewhat medium build, with a square frame and somewhat shaggy face walked down the stairs, a monocle over one eye and a plain top hat to accompany his suit and black pants. He seemed oddly familiar but Allen couldn't place where from.

"Ah…Tricia, Sheryl, I hope your trip was a good one." The man greeted.

"Yes, the ride here was not too bad." Sheryl returned with a slight dip of his head in greeting.

Having been forcibly pulled along by Road, it took Allen a moment to get his bearings straight once they were inside.

"Um, Road," he said quietly, keeping his voice low so hopefully only she would hear. "You do realize that I can walk, right?"

"Of course I do." She chirped quietly, so as not to be overheard herself. "But would you really follow otherwise?" She pointed out, noting, quite watchfully, that Allen seemed a bit more awkward and uncomfortable than when it was just them.

"That depends on the destination." Allen replied honestly before his gaze drifted to the adults who seemed to be conversing among one another and completely ignoring them at the moment. And for a moment all he could do was stare.

This didn't escape Road's attention and she leaned over to his ear.

"That man there talking to Father and Mother is the Duke in his white form." She whispered in explanation, realizing Allen had never seen it yet.

"White form?" the boy returned in a whisper, tilting his head slightly to the side as he gazed at Road in a questioning manner. He couldn't recall ever having heard this term before.

"I'll explain in a little while." Road promised as the three adults seemed wrapped up in their greetings.

"So, have you met Allen Walker, yet? I believe I've mentioned him before." The Duke said, turning his attention back to the boy.

"Yes. He's quite interesting, and polite as well." Sheryl returned, his gaze also falling on the white haired boy. "Oh, by the way, where _is_ my little brother? I haven't had the chance to see him lately."

"I believe Tyki had something important to attend to and left early this morning." The Duke explained.

"More like hiding." Road added so only Allen would hear, snickering slightly. Allen's attention had been focused on the adults however it returned to Road as she whispered this accusation.

"Would he really do something like that?" the boy questioned, not really sure if she meant that he was hiding from her or the others. Not that he was going to lend voice to _that_ particular question and risk making her angry with him.

"Let's just say Tyki doesn't always see eye-to-eye with Father." She said with a bit of a grin.

"Sounds like there's more to that then you're telling me." Allen said, a slight note of interest contained in his voice.

"You'll see when Tyki and Father are face-to-face with each other." She said before looking back toward the three adults.

"Road, why don't you and Allen go entertain yourselves while the three of us talk?" Duke suggested. Road grinned widely and nodded.

"Alright," she said, pulling Allen along with a spring in her step. Seeing as he didn't really have much of a choice in the matter Allen followed along behind Road, lest she pull his arm out of socket.

"So um…where exactly are you dragging me off to?" the boy questioned once they were a fair distance from the adults.

After a short distance Road found one of the many doors along the long hallways and pulled it open, the pair greeted by a medium sized couch and a couple of chairs and armchairs. She hopped across the room before flopping back on the couch, making herself comfortable.

Following her lead even after his arm had been released Allen sat down on the couch, albeit on the other side of it.

"We have to wait till they're done talking…and Jasdero and Debitto aren't here right now…" She pouted slightly, once again displaying her deceptive little-girl charm. "And we can't play any 'games' right now. Besides, you wanted to know about the 'white' side, right?" She asked, her tone changing from a rather sad note to a chipper one like someone flipped a switch. Allen had to marvel at how quickly Road's tone and attitude changed.

"I do want to know about the 'white' side, whatever that is." Allen said, nodding his head in the affirmative.

"Well, while we are the true apostles chosen by God, even many of the exorcists know little to nothing of us. Those of us who are Noah's have two sides. One is our former, sub-human lives before awakening. This we refer to as our 'white' side. Then there is our true, Noah selves, when our skin turns dark and we bare the Holy Marks." She demonstrated by drawing a cross shape over her forehead, like the stigmata's that normally crowned it. "That is our 'black' side."

"That makes sense I guess," Allen said once Road had explained this concept to him. The white-haired boy was quiet for awhile before turning his attention back to the girl sitting beside him. "So what are we supposed to do to pass the time until they're finished talking?"

Road hummed in thought and placed a finger to her lip in thought. They couldn't really play any 'games' at the moment, and even if they could, her prime targets were currently absent. They'd already ridden the horses around the estate, and the Duke currently had Lero. After a moment she idly shrugged her shoulders.

"Well, we could look around the house and see if there's something to do. There's always _something_ lying around here somewhere."

Allen thought about that suggestion for a moment before nodding his head. Getting to his feet, the boy stretched his arms up over his head and then turned his attention back to Road.

"That sounds like a good idea… I haven't really seen that much of the house after all."

* * *

Road led the way as they idly walked through the house, exploring many of the rooms. Aside from furniture and delicate decorative things there wasn't much in the way of active entertainment. There was plenty of books, but Road already had enough of those at school. There were dolls and other related things of course, but Allen didn't really seem the type to want to play with dolls.

After exploring a bit she found the room Allen had been locked in during the 'game' with Jasdero and Debitto and brightened slightly. In one of the corners of the room stood a grand piano. It was obviously old, but still in good condition, obviously taken care of.

"We could play some music to pass the time." She suggested, entering the room and prancing toward it. It appeared recently polished, a faint reflection visible on its surface. Following along behind Road, the white-haired boy made his way over to the piano. During the time that he had spent locked within the room, while Road dealt with the twins, he had idly tapped the keys of the piano. However, there was one, inescapable truth.

"I don't know how to play." Allen said as he came to stand beside her. Road merely shrugged this off, seating herself on part of the long piano stool.

"I just know two or three songs. They were taught to me some time ago." She said, something distant appearing in her eyes for a moment before it was gone. "I can teach you a little bit, but I'm not exactly an expert."

Shrugging his thin shoulders, Allen seated himself on the bench beside her, reaching out and tentatively striking one of the keys. A clear note rang out, bringing a smile to the boy's face. Glancing over at Road expectantly, he questioned, "So, where do we start?"

Road spent some time going over which keys were which and what notes they were. While at the time when she had learned it, it had been with great reluctance and impatience, she'd memorized which keys were what long ago.

Allen listened intently as Road went through the explanation of the keys and their corresponding notes, taking the information in.

"…honestly though, unless you're writing sheet music, the note keys aren't that important. So long as you know the sounds and the keys, you can play piano." She said, after going through a lengthy – and in her opinion, boring – explanation. Stretching her fingers, she tapped a few keys to find her starting note before positioning her hands over them. She gave it a moments thought before starting to play a simple song, which had been the first in the few she knew how to play.

After several moments, she stopped, looking to Allen.

"Just play around a little. You'll get used to the notes after awhile." She shrugged, scooting over to allow him more room. A small smile appeared on his face as he listened to her play her simple song and then, as she scooted over, the boy positioned his own fingers over the keys. Allen was still for a moment, seemingly lost in thought, before bringing his fingers down to meet the ivory and ebony keys.

For a moment the boy idly tapped the keys, getting a feel for the sound, and then he absently played a little tune that he had heard at some point that was now lost to his memory. Much like Road's song this wasn't difficult by any means, but Allen was still more than a little surprised as he heard himself play. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see Road was surprised as well.

"That's not bad, especially for a first try." She admired, slightly envious. Allen offered his companion a smile as he finished the song. Shrugging off the thought that this was somehow familiar he placed his hands in his lap.

"I think I like the piano."

"I used to think it was boring." Road admitted. "Partly because I didn't know how to play I guess. But there was another member of our family who knew how to play. He taught me a little." She said, once again beginning to play a little, letting her hands glide over the keys in another song. She had obviously practiced playing it a lot by how effortlessly it was performed. "He had this _one_ song I always used to love, but he would never teach me it. Even when I tried to do it myself, I couldn't get it right, even when I can hear it perfectly in my head."

Allen listened to Road's reminiscing about the member who had taught her to play as she played. He thought he caught a hint of something strange in her voice but couldn't make out exactly what it was.

"Why wouldn't he teach you that particular song?" Allen questioned, his head tilted slightly to the side in curiosity. Road shrugged amidst her playing.

"He never told me why, but I think it might've just been to tease me. He knew I didn't like people keeping secrets from me or refusing to do things for me." She paused a moment, her eyes distant in remembrance. "If that was why, it worked. I used to get really mad whenever he refused." After a moment she closed her eyes, letting her fingers play thoughtlessly.

"Um," Allen began, hesitating slightly before putting his thoughts into words. Recalling what she had said about the notes he had a question that he wanted to ask. "…if all you need to do is know what the notes sound like, can't you figure it out by process of elimination?"

"I've tried but for some reason I just can't get it." She sighed. Stopping in her current song, she tapped the keys to find her starting note again and tried. The first few notes sounded fine but after that she stumbled slightly over the keys when she hit a bad note and then lost it entirely. Huffing slightly in frustration she let her hands fall to her lap. "I can never get past those first few notes…even though I'm _certain_ it's the right keys."

"That seems kind of weird…" Allen said, reaching out and tapping at the same notes that she had hit before turning his gray eyes toward her. Idly, he hummed the notes she had played, seemingly lost in thought.

"I know the whole song, but I can never figure out how to play it. I can hum it though, if you want to hear." She offered.

"Alright." Allen agreed, gazing at her expectantly. Closing her eyes, Road thought back a moment before beginning to hum. The song itself was soft, seeming as though it was a lullaby. It wasn't what one would call long, but it wasn't an entirely short song either. When she finished, she opened her eyes again, a somewhat distant look to her for a moment before she shook it off.

"See? I remember the song perfectly, but I can't play it." She sighed. "Maybe I just lack the same talent he had. He made it look so easy, and he could practically play _anything_." Road didn't notice Allen hadn't heard her, his eyes having turned glassy as he listened to her humming. After a moment sitting still, he reached slowly out toward the piano.

As his hands met with the keys, haunting notes rose to fill the air, almost seeming to make reality fade away for the briefest of moments. Road whipped her head over, gazing dumb-struck and wide eyed at his hands as they glided effortlessly over the keys and played the song that was eerily familiar, not believing her ears at first.

As the song came to an end, Allen absently moved his hands away from the piano. Clasping them in his lap the boy stared straight ahead for a few moments longer before blinking his eyes a couple of times, slowly at first.

"How did you do that?" She breathed. "I've been trying for years, and you only heard it once." Blinking his eyes one final time, Allen shifted his gaze back toward Road.

"Huh?"

"The song…" Road elaborated anxiously. "How did you just play it?" Allen shrugged his shoulders, once again placing his hands on the piano keys. He played some random tune before replying.

"Not sure."

Before Road had the chance to say any more, the door opened and the Duke and Sheryl stepped in. Allen jumped slightly, surprised to a degree at the arrival of the two.

"Oh, Rodo~, I need you to get yourself ready. Later this evening there's going to be a party to attend." The Noah girl pouted, clearly unhappy with that news.

"Do I _have_ to, Lord Millennium?" She whined.

"You already know the answer to that, Road." The Duke replied, having fully expected this reaction. Road blew out a frustrated breath.

"Fine…"

"And see to it that Allen is properly dressed for the occasion. He will be attending as well." Allen listened as the Duke told them this information, his eyes widening when he reached the part where Allen was also to go.

"A party?" he repeated, his voice quiet and his words directed to Road instead of the two adults who stood across from them. Road waited for the Duke and Sheryl to leave promptly before sliding off the piano stool.

"Part of the 'white' side of our family requires us to go to balls and parties or host them and interact with other, wealthy families. Personally I hate them but I still have to go." She said, making a face. "Sub-humans are all corrupted but they're the ones I hate the most, the kind that _think_ they're important and powerful because they have money or titles." Allen was confused by her words and his facial expression plainly showed this surprise as he rose to his feet and moved to stand beside her.

"I don't understand…if they're all corrupt then why interact with them at all? That doesn't make any sense."

"For appearance and influence to the public. It makes our plans for cleansing the world much easier. The humans practically do the job for us and destroy themselves. All it takes in politics is the slightest slip or wrong word to start a war, you know." She said with something of a wicked smile.

Allen blinked as he saw this side of Road emerge for just a moment but he shrugged it off just as quickly as it came on and went away. With a sigh the white-haired youth made his way over to the door, reaching a hand out to pull it open. He'd been enjoying him, this quiet moment with Road – a rarity, given her nature – but it seemed as though there were things to be done.

"Whatever the reason, it doesn't sound like this is going to be very pleasant."

"Jasdero and Debitto are lucky. They don't have to go like us." Road complained, sauntering alongside Allen as they exited the room. "I hear a few days afterward Tyki's also going to take you out for more training."

"I don't get why I have to be included in this," Allen said, shaking his head as he stepped down the hallway. He had gotten the distinct impression that these gatherings weren't fun, given Road's reaction to the news that she had to attend, and he didn't much want to go either. But of course this wasn't the worst bit of news that he'd received, it being trumped by Road's statement that he would once again be sent out with Tyki. "And I barely survived the last time that Tyki 'trained' me." The boy put a slightly sarcastic emphasis on the word 'trained' since he had pretty much been abandoned in the wilderness to fend for himself.

After Tyki sicked a bunch of Akuma on him.

"Well I think Tyki and Lord Millennium have something different in mind this time around." Road figured. "After all, it seems you did pretty well last time." She said, not adding the fact that what the Akuma saw and heard was fed directly back to the Duke like extra pairs of eyes and ears, taking every bit in as though he were there and monitoring his progress. "Not sure what they have in mind yet, though…" The Noah girl walked as she said this, heading up toward their rooms. She walked with Allen to his room first, making a bee-line for his provided dresser and pulling it open.

Entering behind her, the white haired youth watched as she sorted around the clothes. She hummed in thought as she sifted through the different articles of clothing before making her decision on a small white tux and matching dress pants.

"These should do." She decided, handing them over to him. "I'm going to go find what I'm going to wear while you put these on." She announced before heading out the door to her own room.

"I can't imagine what that something could be," Allen stated dryly after she'd left, leaving him to his own devices. Allen dressed in the tux that she'd chosen but was forced to halt once again as he got to the bow tie.

"And I still can't tie this…" he muttered as he made his way to the door with the strip of fabric clutched in his hand. Stopping outside her room, and not intruding, just in case, he waited against the wall idly.

It was a little while later that she emerged in a nice frilled dress. It was light blue while the frills were layered light blue and white, with a white bodice around her mid-section with lavender accents around the hem of her dress over the light blue, including the blue frills.

Allen had to marvel at the elegance of it despite himself, the way the colors contrasted with each other and the way the dress was put together. It was obviously made someone with taste – and more importantly, it was obviously expensive.

She sauntered over to Allen, looking him over. Despite hating the parties themselves, she always loved the dressing up that went along with it. She smiled and tugged the tie from his hand.

"Here, I'll tie that for you." She said, looping it around his neck and tying it at the throat into a neat bow before stepping back. "There." She took a moment to look him over with a smile. "You look great."

Feeling slightly awkward, and even more so due to Road's compliment, Allen offered her the ghost of a smile at the same time that he blushed slightly in embarrassment.

"You're going to have to teach me how to do that." He muttered, the tips of his gloved fingers going to the bow that was positioned at his throat, before inclining his head to her. "And you don't look half bad yourself." These words were spoken quickly as Allen averted his gaze and held his arm out to Road. "Shall we?"

"Hold on," Road mentioned. "I just have a few other things to put on before we do." She said before returning to her room, Allen following her to her doorway this time. She took a moment to brush her hair out and stylize it slightly before picking a light blue ribbon from her dresser, which was complete with a large, polished mirror.

She looped the ribbon around her neck two or three times before she pulled the long ends up around her hair and tied it into a bushy 'flower' above her right ear. Sitting on her bed, she slipped on short socks that only reached a little past her ankles with simple lace around the edge and then a pair of white high-heels and a fake blossomed light blue silk flower over the top of each foot.

Returning, the last thing she put on were a pair of long, white cloth gloves that reached a little ways above her elbow before taking his hand.

"I'm ready." She announced needlessly. "Lord Millennium and Father are probably already waiting outside."

"Then I guess we shouldn't keep them waiting." Allen figured, thinking that she looked pretty dazzling in her outfit.

Holding her hand in his own the white-haired youth made his way toward the front doors, which he could actually manage to find despite his horrible sense of direction. He felt awkward in the formal attire, as was evident by the fact that he kept reaching up and trying to adjust his bowtie. The tux was bad enough but he'd never been a big fan of ties, having always opted for a simple ribbon, tied loosely around his neck.

Once the pair had made it outside they could see both the Duke and Sheryl, and Tricia waiting by the carriage, making idle talk before they noticed the two. Sheryl's gaze went to Allen first, looking him over for a moment.

"I must say you look splendid, boy." He noted before his gaze went to Road. And practically having a heart attack, while simultaneously getting a heavy nose bleed(**Kou:** Pedo)(**Jun:** Sheryl, you pervert! …she's mine…).

For a moment Allen merely stared at the man before he finally found his voice.

"Um…thanks, I guess."

Managing to fish a clean rag out of his pocket and keep from getting blood on his own black tuxedo, Sheryl composed himself once again as they started getting into the carriage. Road pulled Allen toward it by his arm, blinking at the Duke for a moment.

"Isn't Tyki going to go?" She asked.

"He'll meet us there." Inwardly thinking that Tyki was the lucky one of the group Allen allowed himself to be pulled along by Road. He had learned rather quickly that it was pointless to fight her once she got something into her head. And she seemed rather possessive as far as he was concerned.

When everyone was inside and the door was shut, the carriage lurched to life and Road cozied up to his shoulder, grasping one of his arms with both of hers. The boy turned his gaze out the window as the mansion grew further away and the scenery outside went by steadily.

* * *

**Authors Note(2):** -stretches- another great chapter! Ne? Just a few afterthoughts here. I'm not actually sure when Komui joined the Order, since it never really gave specifics, but I didn't want him to have been part of it for years and years when I brought the thing with Cross' disappearance and the letter in, though I think Lenalee was taken to the Order when she was six? And if I'm correct(though I could be wrong) I think Komui arrived when she was about nine to ten years old, judging by the appearance of the nine-year old characters in the manga so far…

Another thing, for those of you that don't know, a Bodice is similar to a corset, but it's more for decoration, separating the bottom half and the top half of the dress, and for adding color rather than squeezing the women's mid-section to give them a slimmer appearance. _If you don't know what a corset it, GO LOOK IT UP!_ Seriously, I'm not explaining it to anyone, it's very common and simple knowledge.

Another thing, I have _never _ridden a horse before. _Never_. The closest thing I've done to riding a horse is a carnie pony when I was seven. My mom grew up with horses as a kid though so I hear a lot of it from her.

Aside from that, I hope I got everyone's personalities down right? Some of the characters can be so hard to write for, especially ones that you don't see often, such as Tricia or Sheryl who've only _just_ gotten any real roles in the manga. I did enjoy designing Road's costume though :3 Anyway, only ONE MORE chapter before we get rolling into the main story! After I write chapter 7, my twin Jun will be taking over for a few chapters. We're still debating whether or not to have the thing with the ghost of Martel or not or if we want to do something else… _however_, any thoughts, ideas, or preferences on what we do for that general time period of the story would be greatly appreciated! If you couldn't already tell, we _love_ feedback and hearing from our reviewers. Which reminds me…

**Leave a REVIIIIEEEWWWW!**

Next Chapter: Parties and Blood

~Kou


	5. Parties and Blood

**Authors Note:** Damn, I haven't updated since _September_? *blank face* I feel lazy…

But thank you for watching this so far and I hope you all are still doing so! I've been incredibly busy with school and working on my own original book series that I'm hoping to publish at the end of the year…hopefully. But enough on that! I bring you new chapter! 15 PAGE new chapter! Be happy! *throws confetti into the air*

Special thanks goes out to _lilanimefan247_, _afallenheart_, _MnMsRoKaNdPoKeRpAiR_, _Peculiar_Top_Hat, Luvu, Johnny-on-the-spot_, _Desolate_Nightmare_, _Emriel_, and _one_who_walks_the_path_of_fire_ for their reviews on Chapter 4!

And no questions from reviewers in need of answering this time =3

**Disclaimer:** Me no own! You think I draw as good as mighty Katsura Hoshino-sensei? HELL no! But thanks for complimenting my art skill =3

...

You mean you weren't? D=  
You go die!(jk xDDD and special mention to anyone who can figure out the stereotype impersonation I was going for(no offence meant to anyone, it's just for comedy))

* * *

**Distortion  
****A D Gray-Man Fanfiction  
****By: Hakuma_Twins  
****Chapter by: Kougets_KitsuneHinote_Hakuma**

**

* * *

****Chapter 5: Parties and Blood**

The carriage that the Duke, Sheryl, Tricia, Road, and Allen had taken brought the five through a neat line of trees on either side of the road, with a beautifully kept garden and open field before they came to the manor itself. It was just as big and grand as the Duke's, a great Victorian building that was several times bigger than it would probably ever need to be.

"We're here!" Road announced needlessly, leaning her head nearer the window, and Allen. The carriage pulled around a large stone fountain to the front doors and stairs of the mansion. First out was the Duke, followed by Sheryl who offered his wife a hand down from the carriage.

Once the three adults had disembarked from the carriage, Allen followed suite, the white haired youth turning around once he was on the ground and offered a gloved hand to Road.

"Thank you," Road said, though it was fairly obvious that it was more an _act_ of kindness and courtesy than the genuine article. Lifting the hem of her dress slightly so that it wouldn't get in the way, she stepped down, taking Allen's offered hand.

"Now, Road darling, remember, don't mess up any of the preparations or anything like that. The ball will begin within the hour." Sheryl chimed in his light, fatherly tone.

"I know!" Road replied, leading the way up the front steps and opening one of the double doors. The foyer was strung up with decorations, the chandelier freshly polished and sparkling exceptionally bright, and the Akuma maids were making the last touches before the guests were to arrive.

"We can hang out in the garden until the guests arrive." Road stated, loosely clasping her arms behind her back as she walked.

"Alright," Allen agreed, raising a hand to fidget with the bow tie that was secured about his throat. It was a bit annoying and he wasn't entirely certain that he liked formal clothes. As he walked along beside her, the white-haired boy began idly humming a very familiar tune, though he seemed oblivious to this fact. Road listened in silence for a long while as Allen hummed the all-too familiar tune, until they reached the door leading out into the garden.

"You really like that song, don't you?" Road asked as she held open the glass panel door. Allen nodded, seeming somewhat surprised to find that he had been humming the song that he had played on the piano earlier.

"For some reason it just randomly popped into my head and I couldn't resist humming it…sorry if it bothers you."

"No, it's alright." Road assured, shaking her head. "Actually, it's kind of nice," she admitted, looking somewhat distant and reminiscent. "Even after all this time, I still like the song, it's just…" she trailed off a moment, contemplating with herself whether or not to explain. Her attention was taken away though when a dog barked, bounding up to them with its bushy tail wagging. It had a solid white fur coat and was fairly big in size, with most of that size being sheer bulk.

"Sit!" Road commanded before it had a chance to run up and jump on either of them, which it looked fully intent on doing. With an anxious whine it obeyed, wiggling excitedly. Kneeling down, she rewarded the canine by stroking its downy ears. "This is our dog," she pointed out, without need but stating it none the less. "Just don't let him jump on you or anything. He tends to do that." She warned.

A small and genuine smile appeared on Allen's face as he walked up to the dog. Holding out one gloved hand, he let the dog sniff it before raising a hand to pet his thick fur. He had always been partial to animals and, owing to the small performing dog that he had befriended, dogs were near the top of the list.

"What's his name?" he questioned in a soft tone.

"The people who gave him to us named him Bucklan." She answered, stroking his ears. Bucklan sniffed the boy's hand a moment before licking it, tail beating back and forth. The smile on Allen's face grew slightly wider as the dog licked his hands. Stepping closer, he once again gently ran his hand through the animal's fur.

"He seems really friendly," the boy observed.

"Friendly to a fault, if anyone ever tried to rob us he'd probably greet them." Road laughed before her tone turned slightly sinister. "That's what the Akuma are good for though~" Allen couldn't help but shiver slightly at the thought.

"I'd hate to be _that_ robber…" He sympathized. Road gazed sidelong at him before her expression changed.

"Allen…" she began, a hint of concern in her voice. Slipping one glove off, she ran her fingers over his forehead where Mana's scar was left, coming away with a faint trace of blood on her fingertips. "…your eye is bleeding."

Removing the white glove that he wore over his right hand, having grown accustomed to never doing that with his left owing to his time with Mana and the oversized mitten he'd always worn, he too moved to touch the scar that was the only remnant of his last _encounter_ with his foster father, feeling the warm and sticky blood.

"I wonder why…" he quietly mused, his voice holding a trace of confusion.

"Come on," she said, pulling Allen up by the arm and leading him back inside. "Let's get that taken care of." Allen followed along willingly enough, his glove held in his left hand while his right remained in place. After all, he was wearing white and didn't want the blood to drip on it or anything like that.

"Strange…" he muttered, more to himself than Road. Taking Allen to one of the mansion's bathrooms, Road got a clean rag wet before dabbing it over the scar that seemed to suddenly decide to open again.

"Does it hurt at all?" Road asked. As though in answer to her question, Allen winced as a sudden, fierce stab of pain shot through his head. Reaching up, he gripped the sides of his head with both hands, eyes squeezing tightly closed. Concern briefly flashed through Road's eyes as she gently wiped the blood away before guiding him over to sit down. "Where does it hurt?"

Still gripping the left side of his head with his hand, Allen allowed Road to guide him over to the chair, sinking down gratefully and gritting his teeth. Frowning slightly, Road continued to dab his eye for a while before the Duke entered, still in his White form. Assessing the situation, his gaze went from Allen to Road.

"What's happened here?" He asked, a note of curiosity in his voice.

"His eye just started bleeding suddenly." Hearing the voice of the Duke, Allen released his grip on his head.

"It's nothing…" he said in a quiet voice, not happy about all the attention that he was getting all of a sudden. There was a slight note of pain in the boy's voice but he was doing his best to hide it. "I'm fine."

"No, you're not." Road argued firmly. The Duke hummed in thought for a few moments as he gazed at Allen. "Lord Millennium, what do you think is wrong?" she asked, hoping he might have an answer.

"It is most likely the curse that Mana left with him." He decided, seeing as that seemed the most likely reason. Allen gazed up, blinking in surprise.

"What do you mean?"

"Your left eye is able to detect the souls of Akuma ever since Mana slashed it and left that scar, from what it seems. That must be a curse that Mana left behind, though why it suddenly started acting up like this is beyond me…" he explained, trailing off in thought. A strange look appeared in Allen's gray eyes for the briefest of moments before he banished it.

"It's really not a big deal," he maintained, offering them a false smile.

"Well, at any rate, a bit of rest may do you good. There's still a bit of time before the party," the Duke suggested. "I still have preparations to help with so I'll leave you both for now." He said before once again leaving. Allen kept his stoic expression in place until after the Duke had left but he allowed the façade to fade the moment the man had left the room. A tortured look appeared in his gray eyes as his thoughts shifted back to his foster father.

_I curse you, Allen!_

Mana…" he whispered, his words not really meant for anyone else. Getting up, Road tugged Allen to his feet gently and led the way to one of the rooms with a couch, sitting him down and brushing a few locks of white hair from the boy's face.

"Why don't you rest like Lord Millennium suggested? It might help you feel better." She said gently. Allen nodded his head, curling himself into a ball with his head resting on the arm of the sofa. He was so small that he didn't take up much space in this position and, closing his eyes, Allen subconsciously began humming to himself. Road stroked a hand through Allen's hair affectionately, shifting to a more comfortable position.

* * *

Road ran her fingers through Allen's soft white hair. The boy had fallen asleep after a short while and Road had merely stayed where she was and stroked the soft white strands in a soothing manner, her gaze fixed on the sleeping child.

There was something alluring and different and yet indefinable about him, an affection that Road didn't feel toward other sub-humans…but she did for him. It was rather strange but not something she was against.

A grandfather clock chimed, bringing her attention away from Allen to look at the time displayed before looking back again.

"Allen," she called in a coaxing voice. "It's time for the party." It took a few moments for the boy to register her words. Allen groaned slightly as his gray eyes fluttered open, his gaze falling upon Road. He blinked a couple of times, still struggling to fully emerge from sleep. Pulling himself into a partially upright position, he gazed around the room, slightly disorientated due to sleep. Absently he wiped his eyes with the back of one hand, still somewhat groggy.

"Feeling any better?" Road prompted.

"Feel like I could have slept a few more hours," Allen said in a quiet voice, wincing slightly as he touched the scar on his face with one probing finger.

"Once the party is over, you can always sleep then." Road pointed out, sliding from the couch. "The Duke will no doubt be upset if we don't attend." Allen groaned under his breath but dutifully slid from the couch without protest. Getting to his feet, the young boy straightened out his tuxedo, which was slightly messed up due to his little nap.

After Allen had straightened himself out, Road led the way to the party. Coming to a large ball room, bigger than any others, a whole crowd of people dressed in all sorts of expensive dresses and suits greeted them, some stunningly ornate and some just ridiculous, the whole place filled with chatter.

Allen was slightly hesitant to enter the room, slowing his pace as they reached the entryway and gazing around at all of the people who were assembled within. Despite having worked as a performer alongside his foster father, the boy had never been overly fond of crowds…being close to people had never turned out well for him. Without thinking much about the action he tugged at his left sleeve, making sure that his strange arm was covered.

Road took Allen's other hand and weaved her way through the crowds toward a double staircase. After all, there were a lot of people and one could get easily separated. Finally they reached the stairs and the crowd thinned. At the top the Duke and a few other important looking people were milling about chatting. The Duke spotted them as they approached and offered them a smile.

"Ah, there you two are. I expected you're feeling better, Allen?"

"Yes, thank you," Allen replied in a subdued voice. The Duke turned his attention back to the men at this point.

"Gentlemen, this is the boy I mentioned taking in. His name is Allen Walker." Most of them regarded him with either a curt nod or muttered a greeting. "Allen, why don't you go mingle with some of the guests? I'm sure they'd love to talk with you." He suggested. For the briefest of moments Allen looked stricken, not really wanting to talk with any of these people, but he knew that it would be rude to decline so he banished this look before it could be recognized by any of them and nodded his head.

"Um…alright."

"I can go with you, if you like." Road offered, knowing he probably felt uncomfortable by the very idea, before even enacting it. Allen offered her a grateful smile.

"Will you?" he asked in a low voice, slightly embarrassed.

"Of course." Road chimed, offering her hand to him. Allen took the hand that she offered, a small smile on his face. If one looked close enough they would be able to tell the boy was still nervous about being around so many people but he hid it well as he once again descended the staircase, with Road at his side.

"This is weird," he muttered under his breath as he once again gazed around at all the well-dressed guests.

"You'll get used to it. Eventually…" She shrugged.

"What if I don't want to get used to it?" Allen questioned, shuddering slightly as one of the well-dressed strangers passed to close to his left side. He had gotten better about this tendency to shy away from people during his time with Mana but the fear was always there, it was just that it was easier to suppress while his foster father was around. And now that the man was gone, Allen found himself struggling not to fall back into old habits.

And this little party was not making that task any easier.

"Unfortunately you'll have to. This isn't the first party I've had to attend and it won't be the last either one of us has to go to." Road said, hiding her dislike since she was around these other people. She gazed around for several seconds in thought, trying to decide which way to go.

"You aren't making me feel any better y'know," Allen said, in a voice that was just loud enough for her to hear. He winced as his head suddenly throbbed but hid it quickly, not wanting to worry her again. Road laughed slightly as he said this.

"I suppose not." She said.

"It's not funny," Allen hissed before Road led the way through the crowd toward a group of people a little older than herself. Or at least older than she appeared to be. "Hello~!" She chimed in greeting. Anyone was fine, after all, but she didn't really want to be bored to tears listening to a bunch of _old_ rich people talk about their 'investments'. The teen's looked over and greeted the two with smiles.

"Greetings." Allen blinked a couple times before bowing slightly.

"Hello," he said in a quiet voice.

"Who are _you_?" One of the boys asked with scrutiny. "Never seen you around here before." Allen flinched slightly at the boy's tone, a condescending one that he was familiar with, but chose to ignore it.

"This is my new adopted brother, Allen." Road defended coolly.

"He's very cute." One of the girls commented.

"How old are you?" Another asked curiously. A slight blush rose to color the boy's face as one of the girls called him cute and his voice was quiet as he answered the question of the second.

"I'm twelve." He replied politely.

"Wow, really? You don't look twelve!" The girl said, seeming genuinely surprised. Allen tilted his head slightly to one side in confusion.

"How old do I look?" he questioned innocently.

"Maybe eight or nine?" she guessed honestly. Allen turned his attention back to Road.

"Do I really?"

"That sounds pretty close to me." She agreed. If not for being the Noah of Dreams and having her particular abilities, she probably wouldn't have known his true age either and assumed him much younger. Allen did not look happy to hear this answer from her. Of course, the boy realized that he was small for his age but hadn't really given any thought to how people perceived him.

"You don't have to look so down," one of the girls chimed in. "_I_ think you look very adorable!"

"You have really lovely hair, too. Is it naturally that color?" Allen's thoughts briefly flashed back to the 'incident' that had permanently bleached his hair white but his face betrayed nothing of this thoughts as he idly nodded.

"Yea…"

"Wow, I don't think I've ever known anyone with naturally white hair." She fawned. "Except older people…"

"You must be what they call 'albino'. Do you have to hide from the sunlight, too?" Another chimed in. As she finished speaking, a girl closer to Allen's age bumped into him as she was running and quickly curtsied.

"Pardon me." She apologized as another girl stopped short. Allen jumped slightly as she bumped into him but regained his composure quickly.

"Are you alright?" he asked in a soft voice.

"Yes, I'm fine." She replied.

"See? I told you to watch where you're going!" The other little girl puffed.

"We were just about to go play on the terrace. Would you like to join us?" Allen was instantly wary.

His time with Road had taught him to be distrustful of any games because they always seemed to involve violence of some kind. And since his youth hadn't given him the opportunity to learn any real games he had nothing else to go on.

After a moment, the girl chirped, "Well? Do you want to play with us or not?"

"Um…okay," Allen said, still not sure if he could trust them but realizing that he was being rude by not answering. The girl brightened and grabbed Allen by the hand, leading him toward the terrace. Allen had to bite back a yelp and looked back to Road who, much to his growing horror, wasn't following.

_*Don't worry, it's not like my games.*_ He heard her voice, chiming straight into his thoughts. He blinked and stumbling after the girl that was dragging him along, eyes wide in confusion.

_Road?_ He heard a laugh even though her mouth wasn't moving, her dark eyes focused on him in amusement.

_*Surprised? It's one of my abilities as a Noah.*_ He didn't have anything to reply to that as he was dragged along, quickly losing sight of her. _*Don't worry, I won't be far.*_

* * *

Road smirked as she watched Allen be dragged away by the girls, a bewildered expression on his face before turning her attention towards the spot overlooking the ball room where the Duke and her father were.

"Excuse me, I believe the Duke Millennium and my father require my presence." She said, offering a polite curtsy and dismissing herself from the group of teenagers. Weaving her way through the crowds calmly, she ascended the stairs to where her family was, the gentlemen that had been talking with him only now departing down the stairs.

She noticed Tyki was now present, despite that the man hadn't yet turned around and tackled him around the waist.

"Hey, Tyki!" She greeted as the Noah of Pleausre _Oomph_ed.

"Hello, Road." He greeted.

"Ah, Rodo~ You needed to discuss something?" the Duke purred, setting aside a small cocktail glass. Road's eyes gleamed as he said this and the Duke needed no further elaboration, motioning to the door behind him with a pair of curtains on either side that led into a private room.

"If anyone comes looking for us, tell them we'll be available momentarily." The Duke said to an Akuma maid who silently bowed and stood beside the door as it closed. Road sauntered to the couch that sat on one side of the room, Sheryl taking a seat next to her while Tyki chose an armchair next to it, the Duke taking a seat opposite Road and Sheryl.

Tyki immediately pulled the pack of cigarettes from his breast pocket and took a long drag after lighting it before sighing. Much akin to Road, he disliked these parties he was forced to attend. Unlike her though, it had nothing to do with being around throngs of sub-humans, having just a bit more of a soft side for the weaker race. No, what _really_ made these parties so dislikeable was the fact that his brother Sheryl, without fail, _always_ tried to convince him to find a, quote on quote, 'lovely young lady for which to marry'.

"So, what's on your mind, Road?" Sheryl inquired with his usual purring tone.

"Lord Millennium, you recall that song which only _he_ could play?" Road began, her gaze focused solely on him. The Duke's eyes were thoughtful a moment as he sat back in his seat, fingers laced together on his lap.

"I don't see how I could forget, but I must admit, I'm curious as to why you're bringing this up." He said, prompting her to continue.

"Allen and I went to play the piano for a while before you and Father announced that we were to attend the party. I hummed that song to Allen and after that, he was able to play it." Road said, Tyki all but choking on his cigarette after she finished speaking.

"How exactly was the boy able to do that?" He inquired after he had managed to regain himself.

"He said he wasn't sure, he just played it." Road replied, Sheryl looking shocked and the Duke looking grimly thoughtful. Silence stretched on for several moments, Sheryl being the first one to break the tense air.

"So then, would that mean what I believe you're implying?" Sheryl questioned, his gaze thoughtful and troubled, the barest hint of malice under-shadowing his gaze.

"I believe so." Road admitted. The Duke hummed in thought, closing his eyes for a long moment, the others looking at him almost expectantly.

"This may not be a bad thing…" he mused. "If we're indeed right about our assumptions…and to think, he may be our brother reincarnate." The others were silent, the wheels in their minds turning. "If he is indeed the 14th, then perhaps there is a chance that the Innocence will repress his full awakening as a Noah…but if he is indeed able to play the song and he does not come to full realization of just what it means, then he may be able to return the 'wings' to our Ark…"

"But Lord Millennium," Sheryl protested. "If he _does_ awaken, then…"

"Then it will be a simple matter to eliminate him and go on with our plans as they are." The Duke finished. "But if he returns the 'wings' of the Ark before that time, even if he happens to awaken after, then killing him will be a benefit to us, and even if he never awakens, then no matter what we will benefit from him." The others were silent for a moment before nodding their agreement.

"So, what would you have us do, Lord Millennium?" Sheryl inquired.

"Keep a close eye on him, be aware of any sudden or drastic changes or clues that he may be awakening. For now, we'll wait and see how things progress. If he does show signs of awakening, alert me as soon as you notice it. And if he awakens before you can, then your orders are simple. In that event, you must kill Allen Walker." Road was silent while Sheryl nodded and Tyki stood with a sigh.

"Understood. Would that be all, Duke?" The man nodded his head and waved them off.

"You may all return to the party. I'll join you shortly." The trio departed, Road gazing off in thought as she followed them out.

So, it was a high possibility that Allen was the 14th's reincarnation after all…it was true that she considered him family, but if he awakened…if the 14th and the Noah genes took over and Allen was no more, then there was no doubt in her mind.

She _would_ kill him.

* * *

The girls that had invited Allen to join in their games met with a few others around Allen's age, some a little younger, and played a few simple things like tag or hide-and-seek or pretend before the teenage girls from before arrived to once again ogle over Allen like they might an adorable puppy. After a few hours and after night-fall had arrived, the party came to an end and the guests cleared out fairly quickly. The girls said their farewells as they were led out to their awaiting personal carriages and only the Duke, Sheryl, Tyki, Road, and Allen remained, while Tricia had retired early when she began to feel ill.

Despite his reluctance to join in their games, Allen had actually enjoyed himself and as he stood by Road again, there was a small smile on his face.

"So what did you think of your first experience?" Road asked curiously, idly leaning on the railing. In all actually she didn't really need to ask and already knew, but she wanted to hear it directly from him.

"It wasn't so bad," Allen admitted quietly, crossing his arms over his chest. "But I still don't like being around so many people…"

"Unfortunately it won't be so fun every time, but at least it wasn't too bad for you." Road said with a grin. "Are you tired at all?"

"I was tired before," Allen retorted, referring to his earlier irritation over being woken up.

"Come on then, I'll show you to my room." She said, taking his hand and leading him away from the group. "It'll be quietest there." Allen allowed her to lead him without protest. He had learned that it was just easier to go along with her, it lessened the risk of his arm being pulled out of socket.

Leading Allen to one of the many doors, Road entered with him trailing behind her. The room was checkered black and white and several candles hovered about, illuminating the room. Dolls were lined up on a shelf on the far wall while stuffed animals lined the edge of the wall and some were piled on her bed.

"This is _my_ room." She said, letting his arm go. Allen eyes the hovering candles as he stepped inside her room, a slight feeling of unease descending upon him. The boy couldn't help but reflect on the fact that this seemed to be happening a lot as of recently but he shrugged this thought off as he took in the décor.

"Are you sure that's safe?" he questioned, his gray eyes once again darting to the candles.

"Of course," Road replied somewhat petulantly. She skipped across the room and flopped on the bed and amongst the pile of fluffy stuffed animals, stretching her arms over her head as she lightly kicked her shoes off. Taking her word for it, Allen walked across the room, his hands held behind his back as he gazed at the many pairs of glass eyes that seemed to be staring at him from all directions. "I talked to Lord Millennium earlier during the party when you were with those girls," Road said, sitting up again. "For your training in a few days, Tyki's going to take you on a special mission." Coming to a halt at the side of her bed, Allen tilted his head slightly to the side in a quizzical manner.

"What kind of mission?" he asked, even though he wasn't entirely certain that he really wanted the answer.

His last experience 'training' with Tyki hadn't been the greatest and he wasn't looking forward to a repeat performance.

"I don't know all the details, but several Akuma discovered a place where some Innocence has been hidden. It'll be a shorter training session than the last, from what I hear." She replied.

"That sounds like fun," Allen said, his tone containing a slightly sarcastic note to it. He wasn't really sure what to expect but was guessing that it would most likely be about as pleasant as the last time he had been sent out with Tyki.

"I'm sure it will be," She replied, either not noticing his sarcastic tone or ignoring it.

"You delight in my torment, don't you Road?" the boy asked casually, leaning against the bed and gazing at the Noah girl.

"Perhaps a little." She admitted with a roguish grin.

"That's what I thought," Allen said quietly. Not really caring if she wrinkled her dress any, Road flopped into the hill of stuffed animals, sending a few toppling off. She stretched momentarily before letting out a content sigh. No matter how many millennia passed, nothing beat a soft, plush bed. Allen watched her as she plopped down on the bed before moving to one of the armchairs that were positioned at the far side of the room. Sitting down, the white-haired youth curled himself into a ball, arms wrapping around his legs. Road poked her head up and grinned.

"What are you doing lying there? Last I checked that wasn't a bed." She teased.

"Last I checked there was only one." Allen retorted without so much as a second of hesitation.

"So?" Road chirped immediately. "It's a very big bed." That actually made Allen blush.

"Boys and girls aren't supposed to sleep in the same bed." Road shrugged dismissively.

"People do it all the time, especially siblings. Besides, there's plenty of room." She said. And she was right, the bed was large enough that even two adults could sleep on either side and not touch, much less two small children. Even though Road wasn't _technically_ a child.

Allen was still hesitant.

"I'm fine where I am." Granted he was small enough to be able to curl up on the chair easily, the position he was in still didn't look very comfortable. Road pouted disapprovingly and scooted off the bed, crossing the room to where he sat and took his hand, pulling him away from the chair toward the bed.

"Road!" Allen exclaimed as he was pulled up rather forcefully. Of course he knew from experience that if he fought against her then he would only end up dislocating his shoulder so he had no choice but to follow along.

"Nonsense, that's not a proper sleeping place, especially for aristocracy. You'll give yourself back problems that way." Once they had reached the bed Road released Allen's hand only to push him into the pile of stuffed animals and silk blankets. "You're not going to sleep on a chair." She stated matter-of-factly, leaving no room for argument. Allen knew when he was beat.

"Fine, have it your way." The white-haired boy mumbled, rolling over onto his side. Despite his protests over the awkwardness of the situation, it was only a matter of moments before his breathing evened out, signaling sleep. Sniffing to herself in triumph, Road climbed into the bed as well, careful not to make it shift or bounce too much before making herself comfortable just an arm-length away, brushing a strand of hair from his face affectionately.

"Good night, Allen~" She murmured before shifting so she was more comfortable and letting herself doze off.

* * *

Allen awoke after a good night's rest, a smile on his face as he registered for perhaps the first time exactly how comfortable the bed was. Rolling over on his other side, he blinked a couple of times as he saw Road and remembered what had happened.

"She got the best of me again," he moaned, raising a hand to his forehead. Road stirred as Allen spoke, stretching luxuriously before opening her eyes to gaze at Allen.

"Good morning~" She purred.

"You're very pushy y'know," Allen murmured, not for the first time. She was constantly pushing him into doing things, always somehow managing to get her way.

"Well that's a mean thing to say…" Road pouted, feigning hurt. If it had been anyone else, or if she truly was hurt, Allen would have apologized immediately but he knew her well enough to know that she was faking it. With this thought in mind he offered her a roguish grin.

"What are brother's for?" Road huffed with a genuine pout of disappointment before grinning back.

"No fair…you took away my fun."

"I'm good for things like that," Allen countered, sticking out his tongue at her in a playful gesture.

"But nothing is without retribution~" Road purred, her narrowing eyes gleaming as she flicked a finger up, summoning up a wall of candles. Allen's face paled immediately.

"You wouldn't…" Road merely closed her eyes with a smile.

"…three~…two~….."

"Not again!" Allen exclaimed as he leapt from the bed and made a break for it. Dashing across the room he reached for the door. Unfortunately, he tripped over a rug.

"…one~!" Road chimed as Allen dashed for the door, sending several candles after him. They missed as Allen tripped and practically face-planted, most candles sticking in the wall with a loud _haruh-ruh-ta-tuh_ while a few flew out the door and literally imbedded in the carpet an inch from Allen's nose.

Without missing a beat Allen leapt back to his feet, pulled the door open, and raced down the hall. He needed to get away from Road and find somewhere to hide until she got this out of her system…before he ended up injured. Once Allen sprang up Road let out a delighted cackle and sprang to her feet, sauntering after with a new wall of brightly lit candles.

"A~llen~" She rang as she rounded the corner. The second she had her sights on him, she sent a new wave right toward him. The boy winced as one of the candles tore through his suit and shirt, leaving a slash on his arm. This only served to cause the boy to pick up the pace, knowing that it wouldn't deter her now that the 'game' had begun. Hissing in pain, he gritted his teeth as he searched for a place to hide.

"Why does this always happen to _me_?" he exclaimed as he turned the corner and came to a dead end. Road came skipping down the hall, stopping in the way of the only escape.

"Here you are~" Allen turned to face her, his gray eyes wide and horrified. There wasn't anywhere to escape, at least not any that he could see. Flicking her finger up, she summoned up a huge wall of candles that just about blocked the hall. With a sickly-sweet smile Road sent the whole wall of candles forward, leaving no room for escape. As they got only an inch or so from the boy, the whole wall stopped just short of impaling him.

Having clenched his eyes closed, Allen didn't realize that the candles had stopped, raising his arms to defend himself and subconsciously activated his Innocence as a shield. Road snickered before cackling loudly at his reaction.

"You should see how scared you are!" She laughed wickedly. Allen peaked one eye open before sinking to his knees, his breaths coming in ragged gasps, his arm still in its transformed state.

"It isn't funny…" he muttered.

"Of course it's not funny, it's hilarious!" Road laughed. Allen shuddered slightly as his arm reverted to its normal form, his hand raising to grasp the wound that had been inflicted on him by Road's candle.

"Is not…" After several more moments of laughing Road finally dismissed the remaining candles and pranced over to him, offering her hand.

"Come on," she chirped without missing a beat.

"I don't think I want to," Allen said, gazing at her through the hair that had fallen into his face to obscure it, one gray eye fixing on her warily. After a moment Road took his uninjured arm despite the boy's decision, pulling him up and down the hall.

"Where are you taking me?" Allen questioned as he was pulled along behind her. "And why are you practically dragging me there?" In all honesty he should have been used to such things at this point, since she often pulled him along, but he still had to ask the question.

"You think I'm going to just have you sit there and bleed all over the place from that gash?" She sniffed.

"You're the one that caused it," Allen pointed out.

"Then it makes sense that I be the one to fix it." She countered matter-of-factly.

"I don't think I'm ever going to understand you," Allen muttered, shaking his head slightly. Road merely chuckled to herself but otherwise didn't reply, leading the way to one of the bathrooms where she got a wet rage and pressed it to the gash on his arm, making Allen hiss slightly in pain.

"That hurts," he complained, gazing down at the wound. Relatively speaking it was minor but that didn't mean it didn't sting…and he didn't have the same healing abilities as the Noah did.

"Of course it hurts, silly. It's not exactly a paper-cut," Road mildly scolded with a slight smile twitching at the corners of her mouth.

"You're getting far too much enjoyment out of this," Allen said with a slight pout.

"I've been told worse," she dismissed.

"Yeah," Allen said, shaking his head. "Probably by me." Road smirked as he said this and after the bleeding had thinned, removed the rag and went to wash it out before coming back, carrying a roll of gauze in one hand and gripping his arm firmly before placing a cotton pad over it and starting to wrap it so it wasn't gaping open. Once it was completely wrapped and tied off she released his arm and returned the supplies to where they belonged and put the bloody clothe in a bucket of water.

"You have entirely too much practice with that," Allen stated, gazing down at his now bandaged arm. It wasn't the worst injury he'd ever suffered…it didn't even really hurt anymore, but that didn't decrease his irritation over the fact that she'd actually hit him. "That was just uncalled for, Road…you shouldn't treat your favorite little brother like that."

"I was just playing," Road defended. Allen sighed; that was always her defense. She had just been playing…but it didn't help that she had a different concept of fun than most people.

It was at this moment that Tyki appeared, seeming decidedly weary.

"Oh, there you are. The Duke wanted me to let you know that it's time for breakfast." He informed. The boy didn't fail to register the fact that the Noah had mentioned breakfast but he didn't comment on that fact since something else had caught his attention. Allen tilted his head slightly to the side as he took in Tyki's rather haggard appearance.

"What happened to you?" the small boy question, a curious expression in his smoky eyes.

"That idiot brother of mine happened." Tyki stated flatly.

"What did he do to you?" Allen pressed, gazing at the man as he stepped forward. Tyki sighed and lit a cigarette, pointedly not answering.

"I'd bet a day of games he tried to convince Tyki to marry!" Road mentioned with a wide grin. Just as she said this, Tyki nearly inhaled his cigarette whole and coughed as he just about choked on it, confirming her guess. Straightening himself up and managing to retrieve his half-inhaled cigarette, the man sighed.

"Why must he keep bringing that up?" He growled irritably.

"I've had enough of your 'games'," Allen said flippantly as he made his way over to the door. Once there he turned back to Tyki, who had finally stopped choking on the cigarette that he'd almost ended up eating. "And have you tried telling him that you don't want to get married?"

"What do you think, boy?" Ignoring Tyki's complaints, which she was used to at this point, she sauntered over to Allen's side, lacing her fingers around his

"I didn't mean to upset you," Allen said quietly, not really paying any attention as Road wove her fingers between his. She was always possessive around him for some reason and he had just gotten used to it.

"We're just going to go down to eat," she announced. "Have you eaten yet, Tyki?"

"Not this morning, no." The man said more calmly.

"You should join us."

"You should eat…" Allen added. "It'll make you feel better."

"I suppose so." Tyki consented, shrugged his shoulders and moving to follow them. Allen walked along beside Road, mainly because he had absolutely no idea where it was that he was going. He couldn't even find his way around the Duke's mansion so there was no hope of him avoiding getting himself hopelessly lost here.

* * *

The train that Allen and Tyki had taken to their mission screeched to a halt with a hiss, the Portuguese man stepping off the train as he smoothed his hair back with one hand before placing his top-hat on his head. Immediately there were tons and tons of Akuma that Allen's eye picked up, at least a third of the town. Now accustomed to it, he gazed around as it reacted to the demons' presences.

"Where are we, Tyki?" the boy questioned as he came to stand behind the older male. "And why are there so many Akuma here?"

"Because of a lot of the hard labor in this town, people die a lot on the job, clearing trees and boulders or mining, so a lot of people…" Tyki paused at this point, thinking of how to word it and remembering that they had to be careful to keep the boy on their side, at least until he followed them without question. "So we create Akuma from the people who died and save their souls from the false God." He said carefully. "We discovered there are people in this town that have several pieces of Innocence hoarded away. We're here to retrieve it."

Allen listened to Tyki's explanation of the situation, wincing slightly as the Innocence in his left hand reacted to the presence of so many Akuma, pulsating as if eager to slay them. This was different from the handful of maids that kept the mansion in order and the boy had to take a moment to fight off the urge to destroy them.

"So," he began once he'd recovered somewhat. "How are we going to find the Innocence?" And…why did you need me for this?" He was a little concerned about what the Noah had in store for him.

"Missions will often be like this one, so you should get used to what's about to happen." Tyki said cryptically before starting down the street, the heels of his dress shoes clacking on the stone street. "Come along boy, it's time to begin."

"Allen," the boy reminded out of habit, falling into step behind Tyki. The man never called him by his name and yet he frequently felt the need to remind Tyki that he did indeed have one. Night was growing close as the pair walked across the town and a ring of the Akuma's bullets rang out in the air, followed by screams and explosions, the Akuma all heading towards a center point.

"What was that?" Allen exclaimed, quickening his pace toward where the noise had originated.

"It's begun." Tyki stated simply. "Hopefully this will go quickly enough."

"What are you talking about?" Allen questioned as the noise continued, looking more than a little apprehensive about the whole situation.

"It's time we retrieved the Innocence. The Akuma have begun their attack but we will be the ones to finish this." Tyki informed. "You're about to see and experience what it is to be part of the family." As Tyki spoke he led the way toward where the Akuma were flocking in time to see one fire into a group of fleeing townspeople, the bullet ripping through them and causing the black stars to appear. Once their skin became black they burst into clouds of dust, leaving behind only their clothing.

"But why are they killing people, Tyki?" Allen demanded, gazing up at the tall male with a slightly accusing look in his eyes. "That doesn't seem right." Tyki sighed slightly.

"As Duke Millennium explained, the sub-humans have become corrupt and sinful. It might seem wrong to sub-humans, but this is the only way they and the world will be saved. Humans had their chance to change but they chose instead to become the lowly creatures that they are." He explained. After a moment, Allen nodded slightly.

"Right, sorry." It was difficult for him to do so, since every fiber of his being was screaming out for him to help, but Allen stood at Tyki's side and watched as the Akuma's bullets pierced through the people one by one.

After many of the people had been killed or managed to flee – which was a very small few – Tyki started walking again as several of the Akuma made their way for a large house that was already damaged, breaking through the front walls and causing part of the building to collapse. A small fire had started along one of the buildings, probably from a candle or other object that had been on fire to topple over, and was quickly spreading.

"Come along boy. It's time for our part."

"Right," Allen said, trailing along behind Tyki. His thoughts were a jumbled mess; he had promised to do everything in his power to help the Duke so that he could atone for what he had done but he still felt conflicted. It was so bad that he forgot to correct Tyki for calling him 'boy'. Inside the house, a level 2 had cornered a couple, a deep wound on the man's right shoulder bleeding profusely and his arm hanging limply while the woman had scratches visible all along her skin.

They were huddled against a wall, where the man sat, glaring at the Akuma hatefully while the woman looked on with wide, terrified eyes, kneeling at his side.

The man's anger only seemed to deepen as he spotted Tyki.

"A Noah!" He spat. "You're a horrible monster, killing all those innocent people. Demon!" He snarled. Tyki didn't seem at all offended by his words and shifted his gaze to Allen.

"There is only one thing you need to do, boy. Kill them, and your training for this mission is done."

"What?" Allen exclaimed, this being the last thing that he had expected. His gray eyes widened as he turned to gaze up at Tyki. Surely he'd heard that wrong!

"You heard me." Tyki stated. "Kill them and this round of training is complete. Do this and we can go back home." The boy's hands actually shook as he activated his Innocence, stepping toward the couple hesitantly. He made it a point not to look them in the eyes as he held up his claw-like left hand, certain that he wouldn't be able to go through with it if he looked at them.

The couple's eyes widened as the boy stepped toward them, a mix of fear and realization in their eyes.

"_You_- you're an accommodator for Innocence! A chosen apostle of _God_! How _could_ you? How could you side with the Earl?" The man demanded, his eyes filled to the brim with shock.

"I have to do this…" Allen replied, his voice low as he spoke to the people whose lives he was about to end. "I have to atone for what I did…but don't worry, I'm going to save you from the false God."

This making him feel slightly better about the situation, Allen raised his left hand a little higher in preparation. "Let their souls be saved," he muttered as he brought both their lives to an end with one slash. The pair's screams were choked off mid-way as Allen's claw cut through them, the two falling to the floor with a _THUD_, their blood splattering across the ground. Tyki was a bit surprised, having half-expected that he wouldn't be able to. The Noah turned briefly turned his attention to the Akuma.

"Retrieve the Innocence and bring it to me."

"Yes, Noah-sama." The Akuma replied before heading into another room. Tyki turned his attention back to Allen, stepping toward the boy.

"Congratulations on your first successful mission, boy." Looking decidedly ill, Allen turned away from the scene of carnage, his entire body shaking as he fought against the bile that was rising in his throat, panting as he resisted the urge to throw up.

_Should've known he wouldn't take that entirely well…_ Tyki sweat-dropped, following Allen out. Personally it didn't bother him but he was a Noah, and he had been doing this for a good six years since his own awakening, whereas Allen was still a young human boy.

"Allen Walker~" The Duke's voice broke through Tyki's thoughts and he noticed the fat man standing just ahead of them, his grin wide. At least wider than usual. "I was watching you during the mission. Very good job, my boy~" He praised. "I'm _very_ proud of you~"

Allen gazed dully up at the Duke briefly before losing his battle not to vomit. Rushing over to a pile of rubble he emptied the contents of his stomach over the other side before wiping the corners of his mouth with one of his gloves and discarding the soiled fabric, making his way back over to Tyki's side. His skin was even paler than normal and he seemed unable to speak at the moment, his body still trembling.

Giving Allen a sympathetic look, the Duke patted his back with one hand.

"You'll get used to it in time, my boy." He promised. "For now, let's take you back home for some rest and recuperation." He said, Road's door appearing in this moment.

"I'm sorry…" the boy whispered, still feeling ill. "I promise I'm trying…"

"I know, I know." The Duke cooed as Road appeared, taking Allen's hand and leading him towards the door much more gently and slowly than usual, with the other two following behind. "There's still plenty of time for you to learn, so don't push yourself too much beyond what you can do." The Duke advised as the door shut and they arrived back at the manor.

"Thank you," Allen whispered as they arrived back home. The wound on his arm was aching slightly and he absently placed a hand over it as he turned to gaze at the trio who stood around him. "Is it alright if I go to my room for a while?"

"Of course," the Duke conceded, motioning for him to go ahead. Road took the lead ahead of him, leading him by the arm toward the younger boy's room.

"I'll hum you that song to help you sleep if you like," Road offered, her voice unusually soft and gentle, especially by comparison of her usual nature. Allen gave the barest hint of a nod, still feeling sick to his stomach. He couldn't get the sight of the bloody bodies out of his mind and he shuddered as he thought back to it.

Following along numbly, he was actually somewhat surprised when they arrived at his room. Walking over to his bed Allen removed his shoes before climbing onto the bed, burrowing under the covers.

Sitting down and making herself comfortable on the edge of the bed, Road stroked Allen's hair in a soothing manner and began to hum the lullaby that she hadn't been able to play on the piano. Allen's eyes clenched tightly closed as he listened to Road humming the tune, relaxing somewhat as the melody seemed to calm him. After a few moments his features relaxed and he subconsciously began humming along with her. His voice trailed off after a little while however as he fell asleep.

"Sleep well Allen," Road murmured as he dozed off, brushing a lock of hair away from his forehead and placing a tender kiss on it. "I'll make sure you aren't plagued with any nightmares tonight." She murmured as the boy snuggled deeper under the blankets, his mind blissfully blank of the dark happenings that had not long ago occurred.

* * *

**Authors Note(2):** And the chapters for Allen's younger child-hood finally come to a close! Okay first off, yes Road and her mother and father have a big white dog(pretty sure its white) if you recall. And I do think its white because having a white animal is a status symbol that you have enough time and money to make it clean, as opposed to someone without money or status that doesn't invest a lot of time into making the animal look WHITE-white, because white animals show dirt a lot more easily…

Road use her amazing abilities of speaking into someone's mind!(Yeah…not really _that_ exciting but if you remember, she did that to Lavi as well aboard the Ark atop the white tower). But yeah…if you hadn't guessed in that scene where the little girls are dragging Allen off to play, she was telepathically talking to Allen.

And the Earl knows that Allen is the 14th's reincarnation! Road gets her retribution…and Allen is a murderer!(haha) Aside from that, not much to say except that I won't be updating often….but I will try as much as I can! I'm just so busy… things'll be a little different during summer though, I hope…but most of my writing time is being used for my book.

Anyways, special thanks to _Allen_the_Musician_ for helping me with this and please leave a **REVIEW!** Reviews are my life-blood for writing this! I will _die_ without them…can you live with yourself then, knowing that you killed me? *dramatic look*

Just kidding…but seriously, a review would be nice….and motivate me to write more quickly for this *puppy dog pout*

~Kou

Next Chapter: Innocence of the Family of Noah


	6. InnocenceFamily of Noah&Duke's Scenario

**Authors Note:** Oh wow, it has been far, far too long since I've updated. Hello! This is Kou. At the moment it's uncertain but it doesn't look as if Jun is going to be working on this so probably going to move this to my main account, still deciding. At any rate, finally I bring you a new chapter! Special thanks to Allen_the_Musician for his help on this.

Also, thanks goes go FireFox Vixen, MnMsRoK, gothicgeek, Getsuga Tensou, Saissister, my eye hurt, Peculiar top hat, Ciega Chica, silverofaheartless, Me, isthisparadise, Vault1412, crisscross, Kumika95, and MJ the Cat for their reviews on Chapter 5!

Behold, the corruption of Allen *insert evil laugh here*

* * *

**Distortion  
****A D Gray-Man Fanfiction  
****By: Hakuma Twins**

* * *

**Chapter 6:** **Innocence of the Family of Noah and the Duke's Scenario**

Road idly huffed as she looked out over the crowd of people, the small girl dressed in a lavender-blue frilled dress that reached down to her knees and a bodice, white lace bordering her sleeves and part of the back of the shirt. She was wearing expensive high heels with flower decor and white cloth gloves over her hands. Her black hair was done up into a loose bun with a flower-tied ribbon just above her right ear.  
She found parties like these to be rather boring or otherwise pointless but it was something that was required living with her father Sheryl as well as the outer appearance of their family to the general public. She'd been forced to stay close to Sheryl, the Duke, and her uncle, Tyki for much of the party, though at the moment Tyki was forced to mingle with the other people at the party, though she wasn't so concerned about that. She looked around before pouting again to herself slightly and looked to the Duke, pout still in place as she tugged on his sleeve slightly, earning his attention.  
"Duke, can I go find Allen?" She asked. It hadn't been the first time since the ball began that she'd tried to get him and Sheryl to agree. After a moment of thought he nodded, giving in to her charm.  
"Alright. I believe he was mingling with the young ladies on the dance floor." He consented. She instantly brightened and turned to quickly descend the stairs, lifting the hem of her dress slightly as she did so and making her way into the crowd. Her dark eyes scanned around the large ornate room vigilantly as she made her way across the fine polished marble, before her gaze fell on a silver-haired boy that seemed to be just a few years older than her dressed in a pure white tuxedo with a top hat and red ribbons and trim. Several girls, a few of them the small girls who'd played with him on the terrace during his first party, were standing around and giggling flirtatiously, no doubt at something he'd said. Allen could be quite the actor when he wanted to be, despite that he had practically become like a Noah himself in view and mentality.  
She skipped towards him, maneuvering through the crowd with obvious practice before going to pounce on his arm.  
"Here you are, Allen~" She purred affectionately.

"Good evening Road," Allen said, inclining his head slightly to the girl who had just seized him by the arm. He was surprised that she hadn't accosted him sooner, almost disappointed actually. He wasn't really enjoying himself mingling with the people who attended this party, their talk so mind numbingly boring. "I wasn't aware that I was lost but I'm certainly glad that you found me."

Road offered him a smile, her gaze knowing though he was one of the only people that would be able to pick up on this fact. Despite the semi-occasional rough 'game' the pair had grown fairly close and the Noah girl could pick up on how he felt over a situation pretty easily, even without using her abilities to read into a person's mind.  
"I imagine after all the talking and mingling you've done today your probably thirsty. Why don't we go get something to drink?" She ventured, using it mostly as a means to get away from all the oggling girls that he was preoccupied with.

"That is an excellent idea," Allen said, jumping at the opportunity to get away from the group that had surrounded him. They had been hounding him for the better part of the night and this seemed like a great chance to make his escape. Turning back to the group he gave them a polite bow, playing his part perfectly as always. "If you'll excuse me..."

"Awwwww...you're going _already_?" One of the girls whined in disappointment.  
"Well if was lovely talking to you." One of the others consented, offering a slightly curtsy.  
"I hope you'll spend time with us next time, Allen!" A third chimed in.  
Once goodbyes were finished Road led Allen away, who was quite a bit taller than her now, though he was still slightly shorter than some other males his age. Road used the cover of the crowd to their advantage to sneak out unnoticed into the halls. After all, it was unlikely the Duke would approve of them ditching the party.  
She found one of the various rooms that had some comfortable furnishings before releasing his arm, though he didn't seem to be too bothered by it like he used to, especially since he was much stronger than back in those days when he was still even shorter than her, even if just by a little.

"That was beyond annoying," Allen muttered as he moved toward one of the chairs that was positioned in the room. Removing the top hat he tossed it aside, it coming to rest in one of the other chairs. "I still hate these stupid parties..."  
Of course he would never say this to the Duke, since he saw it as his duty to attend, but that didn't mean that he had to enjoy it. And the good thing about being with Road was the fact that he didn't have to pretend. She disdained it as much as he himself.

"Yeah. But just think, once we're done purifying the world, there won't be any more stupid parties with those filthy sub-humans." Road mused, taking a seat on the armrest next to Allen. It had often been a habit of hers to stay close to her 'little brother' whenever she could, probably part of why they had become so close. "After the party ends and we go back to Lord Millennium's mansion we could always 'play' with Jasdero and Debitto~" She tempted with a purr to her voice, twirling a lock of his white hair around one finger. It had pretty much always been one of the things that she loved exceedingly about him and made him even more unique and interesting from other sub-humans, though she would never call him one now. To her he'd become the same as another Noah, even if he didn't have the awakened gene's of one.

One corner of Allen's mouth twitched up into a smile. "That sounds like fun," he mused, idly tapping his fingers on the chair as though he were playing the piano. "Though they may be hiding from us... I don't think they enjoyed the last game that we played together."  
He chuckled lightly as he recalled that day.

"But it wouldn't be as much fun if they did." Road pointed out with a devious grin. "Besides, it's not like we can play with Skin or anyone else like that." She added, remembering the first, and last time that they'd tried that, at least in the house. Once had been with Skin and of course the large Noah had nearly brought half the manor down and they'd not been allowed to anymore. Mostly because their finances and building budget weren't big enough to have to rebuild the house every time the big lug decided to turn the tables.  
And of course Lulu Bell just wouldn't have it, period. That had been fairly obvious when the panther-like Noah had nearly turned Allen into a shredded cat toy, and compared to the other Noah's, she wasn't as openly accepting of Allen.  
Even so Road didn't find them nearly as entertaining anyways so that left the pairs two favorite tormentee's, Jasdero and Debitto.

"I know it wouldn't be as much fun if they enjoyed it," Allen said casually. "I just meant that it'll be harder than usual to find them." A grin formed across his face. "I didn't say that it was impossible or that I wasn't up for trying."

"But that just makes it more fun~!" She chimed with a grin. "Just imagine their faces when we find them."

"You always have been partial to hide and seek," Allen mused thoughtfully. A smirk appeared on the teen's face as another thought occurred to him. "So, do you think Sheryl has picked out a bride for Tyki yet tonight?"

Road snickered as Allen said this, leaning back slight and resting her head on his shoulder.  
"He even got Lord Millennium to go along with it this time." She chimed in his ear.

"That'll go over well," Allen said with a smirk. "He'll be chain smoking by the end of the night... if he isn't already."

Road smiled at that thought before draping her arms around his shoulders, putting on a pout.  
"A-llen~ will you play that song for me?" She asked in a whiny voice, though she knew he could tell it was to get her way. Of course that still didn't stop her from doing it nor did it lessen the success rate of it. She also didn't need to elaborate which song she meant either, since there was one in particular that always remained her favorite.  
And the one that only Allen could play.

"If you wish," Allen said, getting to his feet and walking over to the piano that was positioned in a far corner of the room. "You know, the whiny tone isn't really necessary..." he said quietly as he sat down at the piano. Poising his hands over the ebony and ivory keys he turned and offered her a roguish grin before beginning to play.  
He still had no idea why she liked this song so much, she had never elaborated, but it was the one that she always asked him to play.

"Of course I know." Road returned, flopping back into the chair he'd previously occupied as Allen sat down before listening to him play, looking somehow more peaceful than her usual devious and malicious nature, humming slightly with it. She could never figure out why he seemed to be the only one who could play the song, not for certain anyway, though she had a few vague suspicions. Of course this thought rarely came up anymore, just letting herself enjoy the tune she'd missed for a long time until Allen joined their family.

As the notes of the song filled the room, Allen closed his eyes and began to sing in a quiet voice. For whatever reason this had been a song that he just seemed to know, ever since Road had hummed the first few notes of it so many years ago. Over time he had gradually learned others, now having a fairly vast repertoire of songs, but this one was by far the easiest to play.  
And the one that he always performed flawlessly.

Road listened as she gazed at Allen through half-closed eyes, listening to the boy since along to the tune for a while, before it started to wind down towards the end. As it did Tyki chose that moment to appear, stopping in the doorway, not having expected them to be here.  
"Shouldn't you two be at the party?" He asked aloud, gazing over both of them. "What are you doing way in here?"

Removing his hands from the keys and turning to face Tyki, the white haired teen tossed back. "Shouldn't you be at the party Tyki? After all I'm sure whichever future wife Sherryl picked out for you will be missing you soon." He couldn't keep a roguish grin from spreading across his face as he said this, knowing the affect that it would likely have.

Tyki nearly choked on his cigarette before casting in indignant glare at the boy.  
"There _is_ no future wife!" He barked, having gotten really tired of this years ago. Eyeing them he added, "And I highly doubt Duke Millennium gave you any permission to leave the party before it's over.""But aren't _you_ ditching too, Tyki~?" Road retorted with a purr like the cat that caught the bird, especially when he wore a look of being caught in the act.

"Sounds like grounds for extortion to me," Allen said, the grin on his face only growing wider. "Tell you what Tyki, we won't tell on you if you won't tell on us. Deal?"

Tyki's brow twitched slightly as he walked into the room towards a different side, pulling his cigarette away from his lips and exhaling.  
"Please, like I was planning to tell the Duke to begin with."

"You can never be too careful," Allen said with a chuckle, turning back to the piano and idly playing a few more notes. "I'm not in the mood for a lecture."

"Well perhaps you need one~" The Duke's voice purred, nearly making Tyki choke on his cigarette for a second time. "Shouldn't you _all_ be at the party?" He asked, eyeing all three.

"Well that was lousy timing," Allen muttered in a voice low enough to prevent the Duke from overhearing. Turning around on the piano bench once more he gazed at the man, silently wondering why neither Road nor Tyki had warned him about that.

"I almost expect as much from you, Rodo~ but you two?" He continued, his gaze going from first Allen then Tyki. "You weren't planning to ditch the rest of the party, were you~?" He asked in a slightly reprimanding tone.

Allen forced his face into his best innocent expression as he turned large gray eyes to the Duke. "We wouldn't dream of doing such a thing Duke Millennium... we were just taking a short break."

Eyeing the boy a moment he nodded his head in acceptance.  
"Alright then, I expect you to be back within the next ten minutes then." He purred. "I'll be keeping my eyes out~" With this said he turned and left the room back toward the party, leaving the trio alone.  
"That was a nice save, boy." Tyki sighed, grinding the end of his cigarette into an ash tray.

"Ugh," Allen groaned once the Duke was gone, reaching up and running a hand through his white hair. "Not such a good save... now we have to go back."

"And that surprises you?" Tyki chuckled. "You should know the Duke better than that by now, boy." Road leapt up from her place on the chair and made her way over to where Allen sat on the piano stool, throwing her arms over him and resting her head on his shoulder with a pout. "Well there goes the last fun of the evening..."

"I never said that I was surprised," Allen said, getting to his feet and going to retrieve his top hat from the chair where he had tossed it earlier. Picking it up he twirled it with one hand, turning his attention back to Road. "We should go... I doubt that I'll be able to get us out of trouble twice in one night."

Road sighed as she moved to follow him.  
"At least we won't have to go to very many more parties after this, I would think." Road pointed out.

"Oh," Allen said as he stepped out into the hallway. "And why is that?"

"Hasn't Lord Millennium told you yet~?" Road purred, latching her arms around one of his as she leaned up towards his ear. "It's almost time to raise the curtain and begin our plans against the exorcists." She said more quietly, almost in a whisper.

Allen gazed down at her, a smile on his face and a strange expression in his eyes. "I was not aware... now I feel a little left out."

Road smiled at him deviously.  
"You don't have to worry about that. After all, you have a large role to play in the Duke's scenario."

"Yet another thing that I was unaware of," Allen mused as he led the way back to the ballroom. They were on a time limit after all so he didn't want to delay their return. "What else have you guys been keeping from me?"

Road pouted with feigned hurt.  
"You make it sound like we're hiding the whole world from you when you put it like _that_." She said incredulously, though she knew he'd see through her fake hurt since almost nothing got to her.

"Uh huh," Allen said, not the slightest bit fooled. "It would almost be better if you had," he added in a whisper that was meant solely for her. "Because then I wouldn't be forced to mingle with these people and pretend that I'm interested in their boring and trivial lives."

Road cackled in amusement at his words, fully agreeing with this comment, though Tyki looked like he had similar thoughts even if he hadn't heard the teenager.  
"I find entertaining thoughts of 'playing' with them in my mind really helps to make it more enjoyable." She commented, offering a bit of her inner secrets of handling such unlikable events.

Allen seemed to perk up at the thought. "That is a great idea... now why didn't I think of that?"

"Because I've simply had more time and practice coming up with that." Road shrugged. "Living many generations longer than almost everyone gives you a lot of opportunities to be creative." She stated with a grin.

"I suppose there is that," Allen said with a shrug of his own shoulders. By this time the trio had made it back to the ballroom, the white haired teen forcing a smile back onto his face. He would act as though he were enjoying himself, even as he envisioned several of the more annoying people suddenly bursting into flames.  
That thought brought a genuine smile to his lips.

* * *

The party had ended at long last after carrying into the night and the last of the guests had just bade their farewells and headed home in their own private carriage's. The Akuma maids who were present were bustling about, cleaning up the ballroom. Tyki sighed as he flopped into a chair, while his brother was still rambling on about 'how he should've gone for that one lovely brunette' or 'how could he pass up such a lovely young woman such as...', annoying him to no end.  
Road giggled at their exchange before Allen made his reappearance with the Duke in the lead, coming back from dismissing the last of the guests. The girl pranced down the steps to greet them, throwing her arms around her younger brother affectionately.  
"Did my advice help~?"

"Very much so Road," Allen said, wrapping one arm around her shoulders in an affectionate, one armed embrace. "Thank you."

Road offered him a bright smile before turning her attention to the Duke as he headed up to the top of the stairs. Turning his gaze down he called for them to follow.  
"Come along, you two~, we have something important to discuss." Road let Allen go and pranced up the stairs. "Road, if you would..."  
Road nodded before summoning her bright heart-shaped door, the Duke heading in first with Tyki and Sheryl following behind, while Road waited for Allen to reach the door. Once he had they traveled a short way to the exit, coming out to the dining hall of the Duke's manor.

As the group came out from Road's door, they came to the dining hall of the Duke's mansion, a feast laid out in front of them. Of course one could only guess Allen's reaction to the sight.  
Skin, Lulu Bell, and the twins - looking decidedly unhappy to be there instead of in hiding - were entering at about the same time.

A bright smile appeared on Allen's face as his gaze fell upon the food that was laid out. Tilting his head slightly to the side he questioned, "What's the occasion?" Something about this situation, notably that the entire family seemed to have gathered, struck him as odd.

"I have an announcement to make~" The Duke said, taking a seat at one of the chairs before motioning for the others to do the same. Road took a seat in her customary place, right next to where Allen normally sat, while Jasdero and Debitto made sure to sit as far away from the pair as was possible.

"They don't seem to trust us," Allen mused quietly, his gaze shifting toward the twins. He gave them an innocent smile that promised future torment before turning his attention to the Duke.

Debitto glared while Jasdero seemed preoccupied looking around for a place to escape through after dinner, until their attention was brought back to the Duke.  
"Some of you already know but it's time for us to begin our prelude to the final show with the exorcists~" The Duke announced.  
"It's about time." Debitto huffed.

"While others are still woefully in the dark," Allen added, his tone polite as he gazed at the Duke. Having spent a great deal of time with Road the boy was much more likely to speak up now as opposed to when he was younger but he still maintained a respectful attitude.  
At least most of the time.

"Don't worry, I fully intend to inform you." The Duke promised. "Especially since you have a particularly important role~"

"Everyone keeps saying that," Allen commented casually. His curiosity had been piqued and he was anxious for the Duke to explain things to him.

The Duke nodded, lacing his fingers together.  
"This may come as a surprise to you, but your role will be to infiltrate the Order and pose as an exorcist." The Duke informed.

Allen's gray eyes widened as he heard these words.  
"You're joking right? You can't be saying that you actually want me to buddy up to people that I've spent so much time systematically tracking down."

Having fully expected the boy's objection the Duke merely nodded his head slightly.  
"It seems like quite a while ago that you were brought into the family, even if it was only three years ago, and you've far exceeded my expectations and become an equal member of the family since. You've even come to accept killing the exorcists and sub-humans without too much trouble and I couldn't be prouder, Allen~" He praised. "All of this training was to eventually lead up to this. With your help, we can finally be rid of the troublesome Exorcists and purify the world anew. With you acting as our little agent in secret, the Exorcists will stand no chance. All of their strengths, weaknesses, and secrets will be easily and readily available to us, and we'll know everything happening on their side of the War. I'm sure you'll be able to pull it off seamlessly, won't you~?"

Allen gazed at the Duke for a long moment, taking all of his words into consideration. As a wielder of Innocence he was the only one who could infiltrate the Black Order and it would be useful to have a spy for their side among the Exorcists. Nodding his head he offered the Duke his most charming smile. "Of course I will Lord Millennium."  
His voice sounded so innocent as he said this.

"I'm very glad to hear this, my boy~" The Duke chimed. Debitto looked like he had a comment to say but thought better of it and kept his mouth shut. "As you all see, we have quite the banquet here." The Duke went on. "So, let us celebrate the beginning of the end for those of the false God." He announced with a joyful grin.

Taking this as his cue Allen began eating, the Noah no longer surprised by the massive quantities of food that he was capable of eating. He figured he should make the most of this since he would no doubt be departing soon.

After a while of eating and some idle chit-chat Road noticed the twins trying to sneak off unnoticed, a grin forming on her lips as she jumped up. She'd already finished her meal and was in the mood for a little fun time, casting a glance at Allen for a moment before back at them.  
"Oh Jas-de-ro~, De-bi-tto~" She rang. Both Noah's froze stiffly before slowly turning their heads, a fearful look on their face as they waited for the inevitable, inescapable truth that was to come. "Since Allen's going to be going away soon why don't we play a ni-ce, lo-ng game." She suggested devilishly as she stretched out two of the words purposefully, a sadistic grin crossing her face. "We'll make this one _extra_ fun~"

A grin that was almost a perfect match for Road's fell upon the boy's face as Allen got to his feet and came to stand at the Noah girl's side. "That does sound like fun," he purred, his tone promising that he would be just as difficult to deal with as Road. "After all I'm going to miss you guys SO much so the least you can do is play with us one last time."

"RUN FOR IT!" Debitto shrieked.  
"Run, run, hee hee!" Jasdero echoed, the two pushing each other out the door. Road laughed aloud and pranced after them.  
"Come on, Allen~!" She called.  
"Don't destroy the house~" The Duke called after them, having learned long ago that there was no stopping Road from 'playing'. Keeping Road from playing torture-filled games was like keeping a pot-head from drugs.

"Oh don't worry," Allen said, moving along behind her. "I wouldn't dream of missing the fun."  
A smirk on his face he moved along behind Road, quickly catching up to her as she pursued the frantic twins.

"What shall we play with them this time~?" Road inquired in a sing-songy voice as she skipped after then non-challantly. After all they never escaped her for long.

"Well," Allen said, his voice thoughtful as he gazed about through calculating gray eyes. "The first game that we'll have to play seems to be hide and seek... after that, I'm open to suggestions."

"Should we lock them out of the rooms again or make things a bit more challenging?" Road questioned, delight brimming in her voice and tawny golden eyes.

"We may as well make it a bit more challenging," Allen said, his hands held behind his back in a bored gesture. A smirk appeared once more on his face as the white haired youth added, "Plus, the expressions on their faces will be all the better if we let them believe that they've won for a change."

Road's grin widened.  
"I can just imagine their faces now~" She purred deviously, skipping along, keeping her eyes out for the pair, though it wasn't hard to find them. "There you a-re~!" She chimed, summoning a barrage of candles.  
"Damnit all!" Debitto yelped.  
"Uh-oh...hee..."  
"You can have first dibs, Allen~"

Allen smirked as he watched the expressions that appeared on the faces of the twins as their gazes simultaneously fell on him and Road. There was a gleam in his gray eyes as he gazed at them. "You would think that you two would get better with practice but no... this hiding spot is as pathetic as they usually are."

"Shut it!" Debitto snapped, raising his gun in time with Jasdero to point at the two, his golden eyes just daring Allen to come after them.  
"Yeah, hee hee!"

"That wasn't very nice at all," Allen said, not really seeming overly concerned about the pair of guns that was being pointed at he and Road. "You've hurt my feelings now..."  
A glint appeared in his eyes, which would be a match for the Noah themselves if it weren't for the fact that they were steely gray instead of tawny gold. Holding up his transformed left arm he took a step toward them.

Debitto cast a very slight nervous glance over his shoulder as Allen advanced, contemplating his escape before the two prepared to fire.  
"Take _one_ more step..." Debitto threatened.

"Alright then," Allen purred, stepping forward.

"I warned ya." Debitto said, a slight grin forming as both Noah boy's fired. A torrent of fire formed and shot down the hall at both Allen and Road, burning everything from the floor to the ceiling.

Allen smirked as he anticipated the attack. "A few years back that would have frightened me," he muttered as he raised his overly large left hand and used it to shield himself from their attack. "But now it's just annoying."

Debitto growled slightly as the fire dissipated, leaving both Allen and Road pretty much unharmed.  
"Ooooooh~, Lord Millennium's gonna be mad when he sees what you two have done~" Road chimed in a sing-songy voice, a good portion of the hall burnt black and the various objects around it falling to the floor in cinders.

"I'm pretty sure that destroying the place is frowned upon," Allen added, his voice calm and sounding as though he couldn't be bothered enough to care very much. Taking a moment to size up his opponents, Allen leapt forward, seeking to knock Debitto's gun out of his hand.  
He was the closest to the white haired boy after all and Allen was feeling the need for a little stress relief after that little meeting with Lord Millennium.

The two looked vaguely scared at the mention of the Duke finding out before recomposing themselves a bit, just in time for Debitto to leap back to one side, barely avoiding being disarmed.

Landing on the ground in the spot where Debitto had been standing mere seconds before Allen looked disappointed.  
"You weren't supposed to dodge."

"Tch, the Hell if I care." Debitto growled, aiming his gun at Allen simultaneously with Jasdero, only to have a barrage of candles fly and hit then, pretty much a whole wall that was aimed everywhere but Allen, making both scream in slight pain but more surprise than anything else.

"You should care," Allen said, his tone not changing despite Debitto's obvious anger over the situation. Turning he offered Road a smile over his shoulder before using their moment of surprise to his advantage. Rushing forward he actually managed to capture Jasdero's weapon, the blond being more easily disarmed than his twin.  
Holding up the gun, Allen smirked. "Look what I've got..."

"Hey!" Jasdero screeched as the two painfully dislodged Road's candles from their skin. "That's mine, bastard! Hee hee!"  
"More importantly, you two can't do anything without it~" Road chimed with a growing grin as the two seemed to deflate slightly in realization.

"The two of you could really use a lesson in manners," Allen said, shaking his head slightly as he twirled the gun that he had stolen. "Being called a bastard doesn't really make me want to give it back. Tsk, tsk... you guys really should know better."

Despite the non-challant attitude the two backed away warily, seeing as trying to get it back from the boy while they were disarmed and Allen had his Innocence would be near-suicide. Though with how things were looking they might die anyway.

Allen stepped forward at the same moment that the twins stepped back. "You aren't scared of me are you?"  
There was a taunting quality to this question as Allen smirked at the pair.

"As if." Debitto snarled. Of course he was but the Noah was rather prideful and Hell would freeze over before he ever admitted such a thing.

"Hmm," Allen hummed to himself as his gray eyed gaze shifted to the gun that he was holding. "I wonder... exactly how hard it would be to break this."

"Don't you dare!" Debitto snapped with a deadly glare, pointing an index finger at him sharply.  
"Yeah, hee!" Road merely grinned at them, greatly amused even though she wasn't directly involved. Yet.  
Her favorite younger brother was a perfect natural at this game.

Allen's gaze once again shifted to Debitto. "And what are you going to do if I decide to experiment a little?" he questioned, twirling the gun with one finger. The white haired youth seemed far less than concerned and his features plainly showed this fact. "Not really much you can do... since it takes both of them."

Debitto growled, his eyes darting sideways to the ground a moment, one eye twitching slightly as he tried to think of something that he could do to the teen if he did but so far he was coming up empty.

"That's what I thought," Allen said in a slightly smug tone of voice, turning away from the pair of them and making his way back over to the spot where Road was standing.

"Hey!" Debitto barked as Allen started heading away while Road merely grinned.  
"So, what should we do with them now, Allen~?"

"Not sure," Allen said as he continued to idly play with Jasdero's captured weapon. "But it wouldn't be fair of me to have all the fun... I think it's your turn."

"I'm still having fun either way, but if you insist." She grinned, flicking one finger up in preparation to send her candles at them, making both of them widen their eyes before turning and bolting down the hall, gun temporarily forgotten before a wave of her candles flew after them, hitting them in no time at all before they reached the end and eliciting a pair of screams from both of them. "You'd think they'd wisen up eventually..."

"I gave up that hope long ago," Allen said, chuckling as he waved the gun in the air. "So... how long do you think it'll take them to realize that they forgot something rather important?"

"Depends. They aren't all too bright sometimes..." Road shrugged as the twins recollected themselves, rather worse for wear.  
"Damnit all, now I'm really pissed..." Debitto growled as he and Jasdero staggered to their feet.  
"Ooh~, maybe they'll actually make the game more fun now~" Road mused as she watched the two.

Allen yawned, deactivating his Innocence so that he could cover his mouth with his hand. "I hope so... this is getting rather boring."  
This was partially true but more than anything Allen was only saying it because he knew that it would only serve to further piss off the twins. Something that he had grown to excel at during his time with hte Noah.

True to Allen's intentions this only served to further anger the teen.  
"No more damn games." Debitto growled.  
"No more, hee!"  
"Hand the damn thing over or I'm gonna fucking kill you, part of the family or not!"  
"Yeah, give it back, hee hee!"

Allen was unimpressed.  
"If you could kill me then you'd be doing it and not standing there and running your mouth." Allen paused, a thoughtful expression on his face. "Not to mention the fact that you'd have a rather difficult time explaining that one."

"Like I give half a rats ass!" Debitto snapped.  
"Oh~, he really does sound mad." Road noted, sounding even more amused. "I have an idea, let's play a game~. If you win, you get your gun back, simple as that. What do you think, Allen?"

Allen looked somewhat reluctant to part with his new found plaything. "What kind of game did you have in mind?"

Speaking quietly enough that the twins wouldn't be able to hear from this distance she grinned and said, "One that they can't win~" Obviously she already had something particular in mind.

The smirk returned to his face as Allen nodded his head ever so slightly. "Alright, count me in."

"Why should we agree to any of your games?" Debitto demanded, not fooled by the innocent act. Because any time they agreed to any kind of game with Road things turned out bad for them.  
"Because you're never getting your gun back otherwise~" Debitto pondered this for a moment with a slight growl but realized they didn't have much of a choice.  
"Fine..." He agreed reluctantly.

"That's the spirit," Allen taunted, still casually waving the gun around. More just to constantly remind them that it was in his possession than anything else. "I knew you'd see things our way."

"Fuck you!" Debitto snarled.  
"That's not very nice..." Road pouted as the carpeted floor melted into endless black and white checkers and ongoing darkness fell around them like curtains, the only source of light being the various candles floating around them.  
"Just get on with it."  
"Very well..." Road said, issuing a slight sigh. "The game is simple: you just have to come over here and take the gun." Road stated innocently. Neither twin budged, eyeing her suspiciously.  
"What's the catch?" Debitto growled, eyeing her warily.  
"There's no catch." Road replied innocently.

Laughing Allen's gaze shifted back and forth between the twins and Road for a couple of moments before finally settling on his 'sister'. "I don't think they trust you very much Road."

Road pouted at the two at this point.  
"Well that's not very nice...we're family after all. What did I ever do to you?" She asked, feigning hurt. The twins merely glared more at her.

"I would imagine that particular list would be long enough to fill a novel," Allen said calmly. "Not that I think the two of them would be smart enough to actually write one..."

Road merely shrugged. "You two aren't going to just stand there all day are you?" Road questioned. The pair eyed her warily before taking a hesitant step forward, pausing a moment but nothing happened. Despite this they seemed even more wary as they took another step and another, while Road just stood where she was with a seemingly innocent smile.

Allen wasn't fooled by the innocent look and kept his eyes glued to the twins. All he knew was that this was supposedly a game they couldn't win but Road hadn't given him any details either. So all he could do was wait and watch.

The twins kept wary eyes on the pair as they walked forward, step by step but nothing seemed to happen. When they got only about a tile away the two gave a battle cry and leapt forward, only to have the tile between them and the devious pair shoot up and hit the underside of their jaws, knocking both twins back.

"Ouch... you'll feel that one tomorrow," Allen quipped as he watched them, smirking. "Oh wait... you're feeling it now."

Road laughed as the pillars dropped back down and the two glared.  
"Bastard! That was a dirty trick!"  
"Bastard! Hee!"  
"That wasn't a dirty trick..." Road said, the tiles below them opening up and the two yelped as they fell into a newly created pit into liquid, leaping up out of it with loud yelps before they crashed back down into it and scrambled for the edge.  
"Ow!"  
"Burns, it burns, hee hee!"  
"What the Hell...?"

Allen was enjoying himself immensely as he watched the two of them struggling, their yells only adding to his enjoyment of the situation. "There's no such thing as playing dirty... it's all just a matter of who's better."

"What the Hell is this stuff?" Debitto yelped painfully.  
"I thought a nice acid bath'd cool you off." Road grinned wickedly.

"Wouldn't have thought of that," Allen quipped, still smirking. "Sometimes you amaze me Road."

Road merely grinned.  
"I've had centuries of practice." She shrugged.

"You've really gotta teach me some of this stuff," the white haired boy said with a snort of amusement, the pistol that he had captured still held casually in his hand.

"Let us out!"  
"Owch! Owch, burns! _Hee!_"  
"Nope, you have to find your own way out~" Road chimed.

"This isn't likely to kill them is it?" Allen questioned after a couple of minutes passed. He knew that the Noah were stronger and more resilient than humans but by the same token this was Road. "Because I imagine Lord Millennium would frown upon that."

"Of course not. Besides, I wouldn't kill them. Aside from being family they're too entertaining~" She said, even as she watched the pair flounder around, delight in her tawny golden eyes.

"Alright then," Allen said with a smile. "I just didn't want to have to endure another lecture because of those two. It's rather annoying."

Road pouted slightly. "This could go on a while...wanna go find something else to do while they try and figure a way out?" She asked. The twins were never the smartest bunch so likely it really would be awhile.

Twirling the gun around Allen nodded his head. "What did you have in mind?"

"Not entirely sure," the Noah girl shrugged, straightening up and grinning at the twins. "Have fun you two~" She rang, waggling her fingers at them before prancing through her newly materialized door.  
"Damn it, don't just leave us here! Road! _Road_!" Debitto hollered.

"They're not going to be happy when they get out of there," Allen said, laughing hysterically as he listened to the shouts of the twins as he and Road walked through her door. "Or... if they get out of there.'

"It's not as if we can't handle them." Road chimed, leading the way back into the manor. "I know..." Road realized, deciding what it was that she wanted to do now. Turning on her heel she glomped her younger brother around the waist and offered up a long-ago perfected puppy pout. "Allen, will you play for me~? Your songs are always so beautiful..."

"Again with the piano?" Allen questioned as he gazed down at his 'older' sister. It seemed odd to think of her that way since he was now taller than she was but that was just the way things were. He once again found himself wondering why she bothered with the faces when he never refused her.

"But you can play even better than Lord Millennium," she pointed out. That and only he could play her favorite song. "And I won't see you for a _really_ long time!"

Allen chuckled despite himself. "He might not appreciate hearing you say that." The white haired youth paused for a moment before smirking. "You know I can't refuse you... lead the way."

Road grinned delightedly and took his hand, sauntering to one of the rooms in the house that had a polished grand piano.

Allen allowed her to lead the way until they reached the room where the piano sat, at which point he pulled his hand free from her grasp and walked over to the instrument. Taking a seat on the bench he glanced at Road over his shoulder, smirk still in place. "Am I to assume that you want to hear the song that you always make me play?"

"Mm-hm." Road replied, taking a seat not far from the piano. Of course she loved all of the teen's music, because he was a born natural at it, but that particular song was her favorite.

"That's what I figured," Allen mused quietly.  
Poising his hands over the keys for the briefest of moments Allen touched his fingers lightly to the keys, the notes of the song rising to fill the air. He always got the strangest feeling when he played this song, a fact that he had never disclosed to Road. Allen couldn't even explain it to himself, never mind trying to explain it to someone else.

* * *

After a while of Allen's playing the door to the room slammed open forcefully, Debitto and Jasdero glaring heatedly at the two with acid-burnt clothes, their make-up running and hair dissheveled.  
"Wow~ they escaped faster than I thought..." Road mused, unconcerned by the fact they were practically glaring death.  
"You two. Are both. Going to die." Debitto growled menacingly.

Ceasing in his playing and once again grabbing the gun that he had stolen, Allen turned toward the twins with a grin on his face that could rival any of the Noah.  
"And what makes you think you'll have any more luck killing us than you've had thus far?" he questioned in a tone that he knew would only serve to further infuriate the twins. Which was pretty much what he was going for.

Debitto snarled furiously, fixing his glare solely on Allen.  
"We're done screwing around! Give it back or don't, we'll kill you either way!" He snarled.  
"Bastard! Hee!" Jasdero chimed in. Only briefly glancing around, the teen grabbed the nearest object, a steel coat-rack and lunged forward, swinging it straight for Allen's head furiously.

Allen's eyes flashed as he knocked the coat-rack the side before grasping Debitto by the throat with almost blinding speed. Pushing him forward it was only a second later that he had the Noah pinned against the wall.  
"What were you saying again?" he growled, his tone low but still fierce.

It was at the same time that Road had summoned her candles around Jasdero, the blond cowering against the wall. Debitto was about to retort when the Duke chose just that moment to appear, gazing about the room.  
"I hope you're all just playing, it would be unfortunate if anyone was being mean and had to be punished~" He purred, meeting all four gazes meaningfully.

"We wouldn't dream of being mean Duke Millennium," Allen said, his voice the epitome of innocence, even as he tightened his grip around Debitto's throat just the tiniest degree. His eyes still held the spark that had been brought on by Debitto's attack but otherwise his expression was calm.

"They stole Jasdero's gun!" Debitto accused.  
"Yeah, stole it!" Jasdero echoed.  
"Only after they scorched one of the hallways with it..." Road pouted innocently. "We just didn't want them to destroy any more of the house." A total lie of course, but Road was an incredible actor.  
"Did they, now~?" The Earl purred, looking at the two, who gulped slightly. Walking over to Allen, he extended his hand. "Well then I guess they won't be needing it for a while~ Allen, could you give it to me?" Road grinned in triumph.

Releasing his grip on the throat of the dark haired Noah, and allowing him to fall to the floor, Allen turned and offered the gun that he was holding in his other hand to the Earl. "Of course," the white haired teen said calmly. "I only took it so they wouldn't cause any more damage."  
He was just as good an actor as Road herself, having picked up her tricks.

"You two can have this back when you behave, now~" The Duke chimed as he started to leave the room. "Allen, come with me. It's time to discuss your special mission~" Debitto growled as he watched the Duke leaving before glaring at Allen. "Mark my words, black sheep, _you. Will. Pay._" He growled.

Having moved to follow the Earl as he'd been bidden, Allen paused to toss a smirk in Debitto's direction. "Ooh~ Now I'm really scared." His tone was mocking once more and, after offering the Noah a wide smile for good measure, Allen left the room.

Road grinned slightly at Allen's retort. Sometimes it was hard to believe this audacious teenager had once been a much more mild-mannered, somewhat skittish little boy only a few years earlier. Hopping off her chair, she followed suite to the den, which was just as dark, with just the light of the fireplace, as usual. The Duke took a seat in his customary rocking chair and gave the two a moment to make themselves comfortable, Road taking a seat on the armrest of the seat Allen normally occupied.

Making his way across the dimly lit den Allen sat down in his usual spot, Road having already claimed the armrest. Not that this was really any great concern to the teenager. Turning gray eyes toward the Earl he said calmly, "So you wanted to discuss a mission..."

"Yes. Road will be taking you to Bordeaux, France where a large number of my Akuma will gather to gain the Order's attention. It may take a couple of days but once someone from there arrives or takes notice, I want for you to make an appearance, perhaps destroy a couple of Akuma to make it look convincing if you feel it's necessary. Once you meet up with them, just say that you were travelling with Marian Cross and got separated from him a month or so ago. He's been missing from the Order for at least a couple of years now from what we know, so that shouldn't be a problem. Then you will follow them to the Order. If you can find out the location of their headquarters and are able to reach it yourself, you are free to kill them, so long as no one sees~" The Duke instructed.

"So I'm going to be playing Exorcist," Allen said, a gleam appearing in his gray eyes as he thought about the possibilities that this would present. He knew how to spot the Exorcists, having learned this in his training, and it wouldn't be a tremendous difficulty to kill them. The difficulty would lie more in blending in with a group that he wanted to destroy.

"That's exactly it. You'll be leaving tomorrow evening, so rest up tonight. You have a big role to play in our little scenario, after all~" The Duke said.

"I can't help but think that I'm going to stick out among them," Allen said, his gray eyes focused on the Earl. "At least from what I've witnessed."

"You'll do fine." Road said, wrapping her arms over his shoulders. "And when at last we destroy them and you can let your act fall away, I bet the last expressions they wear before they die will be _priceless_." Road said with a grin.

A smile graced the teen's lips as he thought about that. "An image that will no doubt help me through this charade," he said with a dark chuckle. He held this expression for a moment before another thought crossed his mind. "I'm going to have to fight against my siblings, aren't I?"  
He didn't really mind the thoughts of fighting against some of them, since he did so on a regular basis anyway, but there were others that the prospect of fighting against was wholly unappealing.

"There might be a time when that could happen, yes," the Duke said. "Though I don't foresee much of a problem in regards to that. Although you may have to fight, obviously neither would be out to actually kill the other, though it'll have to at least look convincing. There shouldn't be a chance of this happening until far later into our scenario, though~" the Duke assured.  
"And if I ended up fighting you, you wouldn't have to worry since you can't really harm me~" Road reminded. "It'll be just like playing a game, only we'll have the Exorcists too."

Allen couldn't help but think that the Earl's words might not quite hold the truth that he thought they did, not that he was overly concerned about that. He was a match for the siblings who would likely actually try to cause him harm.  
"You know Road," Allen said as he heard these words from her, and the glee contained within her voice. "I think you're forgetting how those games usually turn out for me." Granted it was easier now than it had been in the past but she was still more than a force to be reckoned with.

"Yes, but just think how it'll turn out for _them_." Road pointed out, a sadistic gleam to her eyes. She really did take a vast amount of pride in the torture she put her enemies through.

The gleam was almost mirrored in Allen's eyes as he nodded. "I imagine you'll have them begging for mercy in no time." With a dark chuckle the teen turned gray eyes back to the Earl. "Is there anything else, Lord Millennium?" he asked politely.

"No, that would be all." The Duke excused while Road jumped up.

Inclining his head to the Earl, Allen got to his feet and left the room.  
"I guess I should get ready," he mused as he made his way from the den down the hall to the room that belonged to him. It would be a big adjustment leaving this and going to stay with the Exorcists but he had to do his part.  
No matter how much he loathed the very idea.

Trailing along, Road followed the teen to his room, flopping onto the edge of the bed.  
"It'll feel strange here with you gone so long..." Road commented. It hadn't been unusual for him to leave for maybe a month or two at the most for training every so often, but even then the Noah girl often grew to miss his absence fairly quickly. None of her other siblings were anywhere near as fun as Allen, after all, not to mention her partner-in-crime for just about every kind of mischief - if you could call it that - that she got into.

"It could be worse," Allen said as he sat down in a chair that was near the fireplace. He needed to pack but he would get to that in a minute. "You're not the one who has to be stuck with _them_." This last word was said as though it left a foul taste in his mouth.

Road grinned slightly in amusement.  
"But then it'll feel even better when our scenario comes to an end and you get to end their wretched lives." She said pointedly.

"True enough..."  
Allen wasn't worried about pulling off the act since he had become a fairly adept actor during his time spent with the Noah, thanks mostly to Road's help. He had changed quite a bit since coming here; changes for the better in his opinion.  
A small smile once again appeared on the face of the white haired teen as he imagined the deaths of the Exorcists. "They scream out in misery... and all I hear's a melody~"

Road merely smiled widely in amusement but opted not to say anything this time around, sitting comfortably where she was.

Allen sat for a short time, staring into the dancing flames in the fireplace, before he got to his feet. Walking over to the large closet he pulled out a suitcase, stowing a couple of things carelessly inside before walking over to the bed and sitting down on the edge.  
"Ready as I'll ever be," he announced needlessly. "So I guess the only thing left to do now is to wait until tomorrow."

"That's fine. It just means we'll get to spend more time together~" Road chimed, throwing her arms around him again in an affectionate manner.

Allen allowed her to embrace him, having long since moved past the stage where he felt the need to pull away. Not that it was really effective with Road anyway.  
"What will you ever do without me?" he teased.

"Steal Lero?" Road quipped.

"Poor substitute," Allen quipped with a smirk.

"Yeah, no one can replace you~" Road admitted, planting a kiss on his forehead.

Used to her hugs, Allen was actually somewhat taken by surprise by the kiss and this fact showed plainly in his eyes.

"What? I can't be affectionate~?" Road purred. "It's not like this is the only time I've ever done that." She pointed out, idly kicking her legs behind her as she hung off his shoulders. Before, when he was younger, it would've been more straining on him but owing to the fact that her _younger_ brother was now bigger than her and considerably strong after his time training she was rather light-weight by comparison.

"True enough," Allen said as he recovered from the shock of the moment. "But you have the uncanny ability to pick the moments that take me by surprise, without fail." Fully recovered by this point he didn't give a second thought to the fact that she was now hanging off his shoulders. He looked thoughtful as he gazed ahead. "Road... I'm not looking forward to this particular mission. I'll probably be using your method of imagining them all experiencing grisly deaths a great deal during my time with the Exorcists."  
She'd taught him that particular method for coping with stupid people a long time ago, when he had to target and wait for an opportune moment to kill an Exorcist or Finder in the past for one of his various missions or weed out a traitorous Soul Broker on the Earl's behalf, and there were moments when it was infinitely useful. And Allen couldn't help but think that the frequency of those times was only going to increase once he departed for his special mission.

"But just think, when all is said and done and the curtain of Lord Millennium's scenario begins to close, you'll be able to bring about the gruesome death's you imagined to your heart's content~" Road purred. "And I can't wait to see their faces when you do~"

"I have no doubt that you'll enjoy that," Allen said, a dark purr to his voice as he imagined the final phase of Lord Millennium's scenario. "And it is a soothing image, I must admit."

"Aside from that, you should probably rest and relax while you can. I doubt the Exorcists have as nice, comfy accommodations as we do." Road pointed out.

Allen shrugged his shoulders, or at least as much as he could with her hanging on them. "It's not as though I've always had it this nice," he reminded her pointedly.

"But you deserve only the best~" Road purred affectionately.

"It's just another thing that cannot be helped," Allen said with a smirk. "But I'm sure there are advantages to being with the Exorcists..." A devious smile appeared on his face. "I'm sure they'll be tons of fun to 'play' with."  
After all, Lord Millennium hadn't told him that he couldn't have a little fun with the Exorcists. And, so long as they didn't realize what he was doing, his cover shouldn't be compromised.

"That's true..." She said before pouting. "Now I'm jealous...I want to play with the Exorcists too!" She whined petulantly.

"Don't be like that," Allen said calmly, offering her one of the few genuine smiles that he ever wore. "I'm sure you'll have plenty of opportunities to play with them."

"Yeah, I suppose..." Road pouted.

"Come on, cheer up," Allen coaxed. "You know I don't like to see my favorite sister upset."

"Yeah..." Road sighed before smirking. "I'll just be sure to make my games even more fun later~" She purred wickedly.

Allen sweat-dropped slightly, vaguely wondering if she were referring to playing with Exorcists or with him. "Should I be concerned about that?"

"Of course not~" She rang.

"I guess I'm relieved by that," Allen said as he made a move to lie down. Stifling a yawn the white haired teen decided that it was time to get some rest.

Road merely smirked slightly and idly curled a lock of his snow white hair around one finger.  
"Good night, Allen~"

"Night Road," Allen returned, not paying any attention to the fact that she was playing with his hair. This was something that she'd done for years and he no longer gave it a second thought. Within minutes, he was asleep.


End file.
